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Hasbajrami.md create mode 100644 40 - EVENTS/United States v. Humber.md create mode 100644 40 - EVENTS/United States v. Martin (4-25-cr-00190).md create mode 100644 40 - EVENTS/United States v. Rane et al. (2-25-cr-00040).md create mode 100644 40 - EVENTS/United States v. Shea et al. (2020).md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/18 U.S.C. § 2339A.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/18 U.S.C. § 956.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Accelerationism.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/FISA Section 702.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Great Replacement Theory.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Insight Roles.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Iron Gates.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Lorebook.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Nihilistic Violent Extremism.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Saints Culture.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Seven Fold Way.md create mode 100644 50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Siege Culture.md diff --git a/.claude/settings.local.json b/.claude/settings.local.json index 6adb249d..ca1d36ee 100644 --- a/.claude/settings.local.json +++ b/.claude/settings.local.json @@ -177,7 +177,69 @@ "WebFetch(domain:networks.h-net.org)", "WebFetch(domain:thegrayzone.com)", "WebFetch(domain:countyhighway.com)", - "Bash(python3 *)" + "Bash(python3 *)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.isdglobal.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:cyberscoop.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.fdd.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.rollingstone.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.nbcnews.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.vice.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.adl.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:abcnews.go.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:abcnews.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.maargentino.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.o9a.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.propublica.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.muckrock.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.theguardian.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.bbc.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:truthout.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.govcb.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.corporationwiki.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.usaspending.gov)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.facingsouth.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:cage.report)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.counterextremism.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:thesoufancenter.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.jpost.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.king5.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:opencorporates.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.buzzfile.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.csis.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.spokesman.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.atf.gov)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.prismnews.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:kyivindependent.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:euromaidanpress.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:nltimes.nl)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.europol.europa.eu)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.occrp.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:mcac.maryland.gov)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.inquirer.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.osihq.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:trademarks.justia.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.gmdu.net)", + "Bash(dir C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\TEMP\\\\RESEARCH\\\\2026-05-22_nazzaro-base-intel *)", + "WebFetch(domain:threadreaderapp.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:dn720001.ca.archive.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:businessfilings.sc.gov)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.religionnewsblog.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.splcenter.org)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.scribd.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.leagle.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:ca.news.yahoo.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:www.theepochtimes.com)", + "WebFetch(domain:thedailyrecord.com)", + "Bash(Remove-Item \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\TEMP\\\\RESEARCH\\\\2026-05-22_nazzaro-base-intel\\\\TOMERGE_Rinaldo Nazzaro.md\" -Force)", + "Bash(Remove-Item \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\TEMP\\\\RESEARCH\\\\2026-05-22_nazzaro-base-intel\\\\TOMERGE_The Base.md\" -Force)", + "Bash(Remove-Item \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\TEMP\\\\RESEARCH\\\\2026-05-22_sutter-fbi-o9a\\\\TOMERGE_Joshua Caleb Sutter.md\" -Force)", + "Bash(Remove-Item \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\TEMP\\\\RESEARCH\\\\2026-05-22_sutter-fbi-o9a\\\\TOMERGE_Martinet Press.md\" -Force)", + "Bash(Write-Output \"Deleted 4 TOMERGE files\")", + "Bash(Remove-Item \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\TEMP\\\\RESEARCH\\\\2026-05-22_myatt-british-state\\\\TOMERGE_David Myatt.md\" -Force)", + "Bash(Remove-Item \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\TEMP\\\\RESEARCH\\\\2026-05-22_myatt-british-state\\\\TOMERGE_Order of Nine Angles.md\" -Force)", + "Bash(Write-Output \"Deleted both TOMERGE files\")", + "Bash(powershell.exe *)", + "Bash(xargs -I{} head -10 \"{}\")" ] } } diff --git a/00 - META/CHANGELOG.md b/00 - META/CHANGELOG.md index 801720a3..0c24c05a 100644 --- a/00 - META/CHANGELOG.md +++ b/00 - META/CHANGELOG.md @@ -1,100 +1,100 @@ -- 2026-05-18T0018 · [[KEY INDIVIDUALS]] -- 2026-05-18T0018 · [[MOC - Intelligence & Government]] -- 2026-05-18T0018 · [[MOC - Key Figures]] -- 2026-05-18T0018 · [[Arthur Koestler]] -- 2026-05-18T0017 · [[Charlie Rose]] -- 2026-05-18T0016 · [[P.W. Botha]] -- 2026-05-18T0016 · [[Edmund Thompson]] -- 2026-05-18T0014 · [[James Earl Ray]] -- 2026-05-18T0014 · [[Giuseppe Santovito]] -- 2026-05-18T0013 · [[Hermann F. Eilts]] -- 2026-05-18T0013 · [[Dino A. Brugioni]] -- 2026-05-18T0013 · [[Aldous Huxley]] -- 2026-05-18T0013 · [[Danilo Blandon]] -- 2026-05-18T0011 · [[Gary Caradori]] -- 2026-05-18T0011 · [[John DeCamp]] -- 2026-05-18T0010 · [[George Pettie]] -- 2026-05-18T0010 · [[Walter Kreitlow]] -- 2026-05-18T0010 · [[Charles Marsh]] -- 2026-05-18T0010 · [[Francisco Aviles]] -- 2026-05-18T0010 · [[Henry Corrales]] -- 2026-05-18T0010 · [[Donald Barrios]] -- 2026-05-18T0010 · [[Ben Barnes]] -- 2026-05-18T0006 · [[Ira Eaker]] -- 2026-05-18T0006 · [[John J. Cox]] -- 2026-05-18T0006 · [[Douglas Ammerman]] -- 2026-05-18T0006 · [[Andy Furillo]] -- 2026-05-18T0006 · [[Brad Brunon]] -- 2026-05-18T0005 · [[Craig Chretien]] -- 2026-05-18T0005 · [[Dyer Grossman]] -- 2026-05-18T0005 · [[Jose Guillermo Garcia]] -- 2026-05-18T0005 · [[Alan Fenster]] -- 2026-05-18T0005 · [[Carlos Cabezas]] -- 2026-05-18T0005 · [[Crossan Andersen]] -- 2026-05-18T0005 · [[Daniel Garner]] -- 2026-05-18T0004 · [[Dennis Ainsworth]] -- 2026-05-18T0004 · [[Douglas Aukland]] -- 2026-05-18T0004 · [[Fabio Ernesto Carrasco]] -- 2026-05-18T0004 · [[Fernando Chamorro]] -- 2026-05-18T0004 · [[Floyd Carlton]] -- 2026-05-18T0004 · [[Humberto Cardona]] -- 2026-05-18T0004 · [[Julio Bonilla]] -- 2026-05-18T0004 · [[Leroy Brown]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[Rafael Cornejo]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[Sebastian Gonzalez]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[Walter Grasheim]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[William Downing]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[Henry Skip Clements]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[Bill Clinton]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[Fidel Castro]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[Robert Byck]] -- 2026-05-18T0003 · [[Yasser Arafat]] -- 2026-05-18T0002 · [[Jack Blum]] -- 2026-05-18T0002 · [[Alan Fiers]] -- 2026-05-18T0002 · [[Jerry Guzzetta]] -- 2026-05-18T0002 · [[Roberto D'Aubuisson]] -- 2026-05-18T0002 · [[Harland Braun]] -- 2026-05-18T0002 · [[Jerry Ceppos]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Donald Gregg]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Kit Green]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Richard Brenneke]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Alexandre de Marenches]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[William J. Donovan]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Ian Fleming]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Roald Dahl]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Paul Bonacci]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Francisco Guirola Beeche]] -- 2026-05-18T0001 · [[Ivan Gomez]] -- 2026-05-18T0000 · [[Joseph Fernandez]] -- 2026-05-18T0000 · [[Luis Posada Carriles]] -- 2026-05-18T0000 · [[Marcos Aguado]] -- 2026-05-18T0000 · [[Octaviano Cesar]] -- 2026-05-18T0000 · [[Sandalio Gonzalez]] -- 2026-05-18T0000 · [[Thomas Dowling]] -- 2026-05-18T0000 · [[Thomas Gordon]] -- 2026-05-18T0000 · [[Gerrit Ulrich and Robbie Van Der Plancken]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[Lawrence Walsh]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[Robert Garder Terrell]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[Leonard N. Weigner]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[Torres Brothers]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[Ivan Torres]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[Richard Wilker]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[Scott Weekly]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[Federico Vaughn]] -- 2026-05-17T2359 · [[John Vandewerker]] -- 2026-05-17T2358 · [[Nugan Hand Bank]] -- 2026-05-17T2354 · [[The Enterprise (Iran-Contra)]] -- 2026-05-17T2354 · [[Tom Clines]] -- 2026-05-17T2354 · [[Albert Hakim]] -- 2026-05-17T2354 · [[Richard Secord]] -- 2026-05-17T2354 · [[Gary Betzner]] -- 2026-05-17T2354 · [[Julio Zavala]] -- 2026-05-17T2354 · [[Enrique Miranda]] -- 2026-05-17T2353 · [[Celerino Castillo]] -- 2026-05-17T2353 · [[Horacio Pereira]] -- 2026-05-17T2353 · [[Department of Justice]] -- 2026-05-17T2353 · [[National Security Council]] -- 2026-05-17T2352 · [[Air America]] -- 2026-05-17T2352 · [[Cali Drug Cartel]] -- 2026-05-17T2352 · [[Project MERRIMAC]] -- 2026-05-17T2352 · [[Medellin Cartel]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[White Prison Newsletter]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[White Phoenix]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Vorherrschaft Division]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[The Base]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Terrorgram Collective]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Tempel ov Blood]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Stop Hate Brasil]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Searchlight Magazine]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Scattered Spider]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Russian Imperial Movement]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[RapeWaffen Division]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Order of Nine Angles]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Omega Solutions International]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[National Socialist Resistance Front]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[National Action]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Martinet Press]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Kaskar]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Iron March]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[InJekt Division]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Feuerkrieg Division]] +- 2026-05-22T2031 · [[Payton Gendron]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Samuel Woodward]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Rumaldo Valdez]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Richard Tobin]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Nicholas Welker]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Jacek Tchorzewski]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Harry Vaughan]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Guilherme Von Neutegem]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[David Cole Tarkington]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Collin Walker]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Caleb Vazquez]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Brenton Tarrant]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Andrew Takhistov]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Vasillios George Pistolis]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Skyler Philippi]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Rohan Rane]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Prasan Nepal]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Natalie Rupnow]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Michele Prado]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Michael Szewczuk]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Kyle Spitze]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Kristopher Erik Nippak]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Justin Sher]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Jeffrey Roussel]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Jarrett William Smith]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Jack Reed]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Dylann Roof]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Charlie Sargent]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Cameron Shea]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Camden Rodriguez]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Brandon Russell]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Aubrey Sakai Suzuki]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Ashley Podsiad-Sharp]] +- 2026-05-22T2028 · [[Andrei Soshnikov]] +- 2026-05-22T2018 · [[Bill Moser]] +- 2026-05-22T2018 · [[Christopher Jackson (Baltimore CHS)]] +- 2026-05-22T2017 · [[Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act]] +- 2026-05-22T2017 · [[FISA Section 702]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Yegor Krasnov]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Tony Christopher Long]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Shahriar J]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Ryan Hatfield]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Patrik Jordan Mathews]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Patrick Gordon MacDonald]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Noah Licul]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Noah Lamb]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Luke Hunter]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Kaleb Merritt]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Juraj Krajčík]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Jillian Hoy]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Jeremy Meilhac]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[James Mason]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Ethan Phelan Melzer]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[David Myatt]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Dallas Humber]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Benjamin Hannam]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Ben John]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Baron Cain Martin]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[August Kreis III]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Arda Küçükyetim]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Alisher Mukhitdinov]] +- 2026-05-22T2016 · [[Alexander Lightner]] +- 2026-05-22T2015 · [[18 U.S.C. § 956]] +- 2026-05-22T2015 · [[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]] +- 2026-05-22T2014 · [[Travis Frey]] +- 2026-05-22T2014 · [[Ryan Fleming]] +- 2026-05-22T2014 · [[Nicholas Giampa]] +- 2026-05-22T2014 · [[Matthew Robert Allison]] +- 2026-05-22T2014 · [[Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni]] +- 2026-05-22T2014 · [[Declan George-Candiani]] +- 2026-05-22T2014 · [[Ashley Gorski]] +- 2026-05-22T2014 · [[Siege Culture]] +- 2026-05-22T2013 · [[Seven Fold Way]] +- 2026-05-22T2013 · [[Saints Culture]] +- 2026-05-22T2012 · [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism]] +- 2026-05-22T2012 · [[Lorebook]] +- 2026-05-22T2011 · [[Iron Gates]] diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..62a32b72 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Russia + - RussianImperialMovement + - FederalCase + - Washington + - USA +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 1997 +location: "Olympia, Washington" +summary: "Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh was an Olympia, Washington Atomwaffen Division member who traveled with AWD leader Kaleb Cole to St. Petersburg in 2018 to receive paramilitary training from the Russian Imperial Movement, pled guilty to firearms charges in 2020, and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison." +--- + +[[Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh]] (born approximately 1997, [[Olympia, Washington]]) was a member of [[Atomwaffen Division]]'s Washington state cell who, in 2018, accompanied AWD leader [[Kaleb Cole]] on a trip to [[St. Petersburg]], [[Russia]], where the two received paramilitary training from the [[Russian Imperial Movement]]'s [[Partizan]] camp. He was subsequently arrested in Texas on federal firearms charges and sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.[^1] + +### Russia Training Trip (2018) + +In 2018, Bruce-Umbaugh and Cole traveled from Washington state to Europe on a trip that included multiple stops. According to investigative reporting drawing on federal prosecution documents, the two traveled through [[Ukraine]] using the Donbas green corridor to cross into Russia, reached St. Petersburg, and attended RIM's Partizan training facility. The training at Partizan covered firearms handling, explosives, squad movement, and tactical operations. The same facility had been used by [[Nordic Resistance Movement]] members from Sweden the year prior, whose subsequent bombings in Gothenburg (January 2017) provided the factual basis for the [[U.S. Department of State]]'s April 2020 SDGT designation of RIM.[^2] + +After completing the St. Petersburg training, Bruce-Umbaugh and Cole traveled back through Ukraine into Poland and documented their trip with a photograph taken at [[Auschwitz]] concentration camp. The photograph circulated within AWD's closed communications channels.[^2] + +The training in firearms, explosives, squad movement, and terrorist tactics was, according to federal investigators, brought back to Washington state and applied within AWD's organizational activities. The Russia trip is documented in investigative reporting as of 2022 and in court-adjacent materials from federal prosecutions of both Bruce-Umbaugh and Cole, though the precise citation to specific filed documents requires a direct PACER pull of the respective case records.[^3] + +### Federal Prosecution + +Bruce-Umbaugh was arrested and charged in the Northern District of Texas, case number 5:19-cr-00130, with possessing firearms and ammunition as a prohibited person under federal law. He entered a guilty plea on February 3, 2020. On April 28, 2020, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison before U.S. District Judge Terry Means in Fort Worth, Texas.[^1] + +The firearms charge rather than any terrorism-specific statute reflects the broader pattern of AWD-related prosecutions in 2019-2020, in which the federal government used available weapons statutes against members who could not be charged under the (then-unavailable) domestic terrorism designation framework. The same approach was used in the prosecution of [[Patrik Jordan Mathews]] (illegal alien in possession of a firearm) and others in the AWD network.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: GovInfo. USA v. Bruce-Umbaugh, Case 5:19-cr-00130 (N.D. Tex.). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-txnd-5_19-cr-00130/USCOURTS-txnd-5_19-cr-00130-0; KLTV. "Suspected Neo-Nazi Sentenced to 2.5 Years for Gun Crime." April 28, 2020. https://www.kltv.com/2020/04/29/suspected-neo-nazi-sentenced-years-gun-crime/ +[^2]: Malcontent News. "Washington's Defunct Atomwaffen Division had Deep Ties to the Terrorist Org, Russia Imperialist Movement." July 4, 2022. https://malcontentment.com/washingtons-defunct-atomwaffen-division-had-deep-ties-to-the-terrorist-org-russia-imperialist-movement/ +[^3]: Cipher Brief. "Examining Atomwaffen Division's Transnational Linkages." https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/examining-atomwaffen-divisions-transnational-linkages; GWU Program on Extremism / ADL. "White Supremacist Terror." https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/White%20Supremacist%20Terror%20final.pdf diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alexis Aldair Chavez.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alexis Aldair Chavez.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b30b578a --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alexis Aldair Chavez.md @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - 764 + - TheComNetwork + - ChildExploitation + - NVE + - FederalCase + - Texas + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Alexis Aldair Chavez, alias 'Zack8884,' administered the 8884 network within The Com ecosystem and in December 2025 became the first 764-affiliated defendant to plead guilty to federal RICO conspiracy charges." +born: 2006 +location: "San Antonio, Texas" +--- + +[[Alexis Aldair Chavez]] (born approximately 2006, [[San Antonio, Texas]]), known online as "Zack" and "Zack8884," was a leader and administrator of the [[8884 network]], a [[764 Network|764]]-related online child exploitation organization operating within [[The Com]] ecosystem. Chavez directed 8884's operations, which included coercing minors to self-harm on live video, producing and distributing [[CSAM]] (child sexual abuse material), and related exploitation. He pleaded guilty in December 2025 to RICO conspiracy and child exploitation counts in a case brought by the [[U.S. Department of Justice|Department of Justice]], becoming the first defendant in the broader 764/Com ecosystem to face federal racketeering charges. He faces up to 60 years in prison at sentencing.[^1] + +### 8884 Network + +8884's name derives from a member alias. The network operated as a sub-network within The Com's sextortion-and-coercion sphere, using the same foundational methods as 764: recruiting minors through social media and gaming platforms, coercing them into producing CSAM through blackmail and psychological manipulation, and demanding ongoing self-harm on video as continuing proof of control. Chavez held a leadership and administrative role, directing members and managing the network's operations. + +### Arrest and Guilty Plea + +The DOJ brought charges against Chavez in the federal court system. In December 2025, he pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy - a racketeering charge that treats the 8884 network as an ongoing criminal enterprise - alongside child exploitation counts. The RICO charge was notable as the first application of federal racketeering statutes to a 764-affiliated network, framing the organization's distributed online structure as an enterprise under federal law. Chavez was 19 at the time of his plea. His sentencing, scheduled for 2026, carries a maximum of 60 years.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "764 Extremist Group Leader Pleads Guilty to RICO and Child Exploitation Charges." https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/764-extremist-group-leader-pleads-guilty-rico-child-exploitation-charges diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Andrew Dymock.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Andrew Dymock.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f8a10d1d --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Andrew Dymock.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - SiegeCulture + - SonnenkriegDivision +born: 1997-05-14 +location: "Bath, Somerset, England" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Andrew Dymock is a British neo-Nazi who founded the System Resistance Network and Sonnenkrieg Division after National Action's proscription, convicted on 15 terrorism and hate crime counts at the Old Bailey in 2021 and sentenced to 7 years." +--- + +[[Andrew Dymock]] (born May 14, 1997, [[Bath]], Somerset, England) founded the [[System Resistance Network]] (SRN) and subsequently the [[Sonnenkrieg Division]] (SKD), the two most significant organizational successors to [[National Action]] after its proscription in December 2016. SRN was itself proscribed in 2017 and SKD in 2019. Dymock was arrested in December 2018 at Gatwick Airport and tried at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) in London. A jury found him guilty on all 15 counts in June 2021 and on July 21, 2021, Judge [[Mark Dennis QC]] sentenced him to 7 years imprisonment plus 3 years extended licence, describing him as "dangerous" and posing "a significant risk of serious harm" to the public.[^1] + +### SRN and Sonnenkrieg Division + +After National Action's proscription Dymock founded SRN as a successor organization. Following internal disputes within SRN over the degree of [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A)-affiliated occultism to incorporate into the ideology, he founded the Sonnenkrieg Division in 2018. SKD was explicitly modeled on [[Atomwaffen Division]], incorporating O9A philosophy heavily, making it one of the most O9A-proximate proscribed organizations in the UK ecosystem. The Home Secretary proscribed SKD in 2019. + +Dymock operated SRN's website and its associated [[Twitter]] account, using both to disseminate terrorism content including calls for the extermination of Jewish people and encouragement of lone-actor attacks.[^2] + +### Arrest and Trial + +A BBC News investigation exposed Dymock as the founder and leader of SRN and SKD. He was arrested in December 2018 at Gatwick Airport, where police found him carrying extremist literature and neo-Nazi insignia. The case was prosecuted at the Old Bailey over a jury trial. The verdict was returned in June 2021; sentencing followed on July 21, 2021. + +The 15 counts covered: +- 12 terrorism-related offences: dissemination of terrorist material and encouraging terrorism through the SRN website and Twitter account, including content calling for the extermination of Jewish people and encouraging lone-actor violence +- 3 hate crime offences + +Judge Mark Dennis QC noted in sentencing that Dymock had shown no remorse and posed a continuing danger.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Tell MAMA UK. "Neo-Nazi student to be sentenced for terrorism and hate offences." 2021. https://tellmamauk.org/neo-nazi-student-to-be-sentenced-for-terrorism-and-hate-offences/; Algemeiner. "British neo-Nazi who called for extermination of Jews sentenced to 7 years." July 2021. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/07/22/british-neo-nazi-who-called-for-extermination-of-jews-sentenced-to-7-years-in-jail/ +[^2]: Tracking Terrorism. "Andrew Dymock, Sonnenkrieg Division leader, convicted on 15 counts." https://trackingterrorism.org/chatter/right-wing-extremism-andrew-dymock-sonnenkrieg-division-skd-leader-convicted-15-counts-sente/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ashley Gorski.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ashley Gorski.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1119946a --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ashley Gorski.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +--- +category: "Law Enforcement & Legal" +tags: + - Person + - ACLU + - CivilLiberties + - NationalSecurity + - Surveillance + - FISA + - Section702 + - FourthAmendment + - Attorney +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Ashley Gorski is a senior staff attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project who has led the organization's Fourth Amendment litigation against Section 702 backdoor searches, including joining the defense in United States v. Russell." +--- + +[[Ashley Gorski]] is a senior staff attorney in the [[American Civil Liberties Union]]'s [[ACLU National Security Project]], where she focuses on government surveillance, national security prosecutions, and racial and religious discrimination in the national security context. She has been the ACLU's primary litigator pressing Fourth Amendment challenges to the practice of "backdoor searches" of [[Section 702]] of the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] databases using U.S. person identifiers. + +### United States v. Russell + +Gorski led the ACLU's intervention in [[United States v. Russell, 1:23-cr-00029 (D. Md.)]], the prosecution of [[Brandon Russell]] for conspiring to attack the [[Baltimore Gas and Electric]] power grid. The ACLU joined Russell's defense team "for the limited purpose of challenging the government's secretive warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," a posture that allowed the organization to press the constitutional question without endorsing Russell's conduct or ideology. + +Gorski stated publicly: "Based on the government's own disclosures, the ACLU has good reason to believe that Mr. Russell was subjected to Section 702 surveillance and his case is a rare and important opportunity to challenge the government's practice of conducting warrantless 'backdoor searches' of its Section 702 databases to locate the communications of Americans."[^1] + +The ACLU's basis for inferring Section 702 collection was an [[ODNI]] document, "FISA Section 702 Value Vignettes" (February 14, 2024), which described an FBI investigation matching the disclosed profile of the Russell case. The challenge sought to establish a right to notice and to contest the constitutional adequacy of warrantless database searches of Americans' communications collected incidentally under a foreign intelligence authority.[^1] + +### United States v. Hasbajrami + +Gorski and the ACLU National Security Project also represented [[Agron Hasbajrami]] in the extended constitutional litigation in the [[Second Circuit]] and the [[Eastern District of New York]] over whether Section 702 backdoor searches require a warrant. The Second Circuit's 2019 ruling in that case held that U.S. person queries constitute "separate Fourth Amendment events," and the subsequent January 2025 district court ruling (the first federal decision imposing a warrant requirement on Section 702 queries) was a direct product of the ACLU's litigation strategy in Hasbajrami.[^2] + +### ACLU v. NSA and Related FOIA Work + +Gorski has led ACLU FOIA litigation seeking the public release of classified FISC opinions addressing Section 702 surveillance. This work produced the release of two FISC opinions in September 2023 documenting compliance failures including improper querying of racial justice protesters, January 6 Capitol breach suspects, a sitting state court judge, congressional campaign donors, and journalists. A further FOIA suit filed April 2024 sought additional withheld opinions.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Baltimore Banner, "ACLU Signs On to Defend Neo-Nazi Charged with Power Grid Plot." https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/neo-nazi-baltimore-power-grid-aclu-national-security-defense-PA277N47ANCLPAMBKAFHXNZ45U/; Baltimore Sun, June 27, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/27/prosecutors-will-say-in-secret-whether-they-used-controversial-spying-tool-against-neo-nazi-accused-in-baltimore-power-grid-plot/ + +[^2]: United States v. Hasbajrami, 945 F.3d 641 (2d Cir. 2019); United States v. Hasbajrami, 11-cr-00623-LDH (E.D.N.Y.), Memorandum and Order (declassified Jan. 21, 2025). ACLU press release: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/court-rules-warrantless-section-702-searches-violated-the-fourth-amendment + +[^3]: ACLU, "Government Releases New Court Opinions Highlighting Further Abuse of Warrantless FISA Surveillance Program," September 2023. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/government-releases-new-court-opinions-highlighting-further-abuse-of-warrantless-fisa-surveillance-program; ACLU v. United States (SDNY, filed April 2024). https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-25-Complaint-Filed.pdf diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Bradley Chance Cadenhead.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Bradley Chance Cadenhead.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c8b3a40a --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Bradley Chance Cadenhead.md @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - CSAM + - ChildExploitation + - Texas + - NetworkFounder +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Bradley Chance Cadenhead, alias 'Felix,' is the Texas teenager who founded the 764 network around 2020 after encountering CVLT methods in a Minecraft server, currently serving an 80-year Texas state sentence." +born: 2005 +location: "Texas" +--- + +[[Bradley Chance Cadenhead]], known online as "Felix," is the founder of the [[764 Network|764]] online extremist network, which he created in 2020-2021 at approximately 15 years of age after encountering and absorbing the methods of the predecessor [[CVLT]] network. He is currently serving an 80-year sentence in [[Texas]] state prison following his May 2023 conviction on nine counts of child pornography possession. + +### Background and Introduction to CVLT + +Cadenhead was a school dropout living in Texas at the time he encountered CVLT. His entry point into the sextortion and child exploitation milieu was a conversation with a CVLT member in a [[Minecraft]] server, through which he learned the basic methods of online grooming, compromising-image collection, and blackmail escalation that CVLT founder [[Rohan Rane]] had pioneered. Cadenhead adapted and extended these methods through the network he subsequently built.[^1] + +### Founding 764 + +Cadenhead founded 764 in 2020 and it became publicly known by 2021. He named the group after his local zip code. Using [[Discord]] as the primary platform, Cadenhead recruited members into a community structured around the production and sharing of CSAM and the coercion of victims into self-harm and animal cruelty, using obtained compromising material as leverage. The methods he established became the operational template that later 764 leaders, including [[Baron Cain Martin]], elaborated into the formalized handbook system and tiered hierarchy documented in court filings. Following Cadenhead's August 2021 arrest, 764 continued under successor leaders, eventually fracturing into [[The Com]] ecosystem of splinter groups; by mid-2026 the FBI was conducting more than 350 active investigations tied to 764 and its affiliates, with the broader prosecution encompassing at least 37 defendants across multiple federal districts alongside an international [[Europol]] operation.[^1] + +### Arrest and Prosecution + +In August 2021, after investigators traced a CSAM upload on Discord to his mother's apartment, Cadenhead was arrested. He was 15 or 16 years old at the time. The case was prosecuted in Texas state court. Cadenhead pleaded guilty to nine counts of possession of child pornography and on May 16, 2023, was sentenced to 80 years in Texas state prison. He is currently incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ARC Research. "CVLT Historical Threat Assessment of the Precursor to 764." https://www.accresearch.org/shortanalysis/svjdmt1twn9ccz0c4uxnbqrauywwcn +[^2]: ADL. "764." Backgrounder. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Cain Clark.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Cain Clark.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..13d5d781 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Cain Clark.md @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - SiegeCulture + - Accelerationism + - AtomwaffenDivision + - Terrorgram + - NeoNazi + - AntiMuslim + - Shooter + - SanDiego + - California +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Cain Lee Clark was a San Diego teenager who co-perpetrated the May 2026 attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego, co-authoring an accelerationist manifesto citing Siege, Atomwaffen Division, and Terrorgram, and dying at the scene." +born: 2008 +location: "Clairemont, San Diego, California" +--- + +[[Cain Clark|Cain Lee Clark]] was a 17-year-old resident of the [[Clairemont]] neighborhood of [[San Diego, California]] who, on May 18, 2026, co-perpetrated the [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting|attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego]] alongside [[Caleb Vazquez|Caleb Liam Vazquez]]. Three people were killed in the attack. Clark subsequently shot Vazquez twice in the head inside their vehicle at Vazquez's request, then killed himself. He co-authored a 75-page manifesto titled "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" that cited [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]*, [[Atomwaffen Division]], [[Terrorgram Collective|Terrorgram]], and [[The Base]] and described himself as a "Christian ecofascist." + +### Background + +Clark grew up in Clairemont, attended Kate Sessions Elementary School, and later the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts. He was a member of the wrestling team at Madison High School in the 2024-2025 school year and was on track to graduate in June 2026. From 2021 onward he was schooled partially online. No significant prior disciplinary record was reported beyond a single elementary school incident in 2015. His social media was described by investigators as reflecting "possible associations with nihilistic violent extremist ideology," though no prior law enforcement contact with Clark was on record. + +Clark met [[Caleb Vazquez]] online before the two discovered they both lived in the [[San Diego]] area and began meeting in person. The radicalization environment he and Vazquez shared was described by experts as consistent with accelerationist white supremacist online networks that require intentional seeking out, though initial exposure can happen on mainstream platforms.[^1] + +### Manifesto Content + +Clark contributed a section to the 75-page manifesto "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant," which the two co-authored. Clark's section described himself as a "Christian ecofascist." Both sections together cited [[Brenton Tarrant]] (the 2019 Christchurch shooter) as an inspiration - the manifesto title explicitly frames the attack as continuing Tarrant's "momentum" - and cited [[James Mason]]'s *Siege* and William Luther Pierce's *The Turner Diaries* as texts that "should be read almost biblically by all soldiers of the white race." + +The manifesto stated the attack was carried out for Atomwaffen Division, Terrorgram, and The Base. It drew extensively on [[Great Replacement Theory]], framing the attack as a response to Muslim "invasion" of the United States, and expressed systematic antisemitism, with Jews described as "the universal enemy." Physical evidence found on the shooters' equipment included an Atomwaffen Division logo and Sonnenrad patch, linking the attack's aesthetics to the visual grammar developed by AWD and distributed through Terrorgram channels. + +Clark also left a suicide note that was separately leaked; it contained explicit writing about "racial pride."[^2][^3] + +### The Attack and Aftermath + +Clark and Vazquez attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego on the morning of May 18, 2026, shooting three victims outside the mosque before security guard [[Amin Abdullah]] engaged them in a gun battle that delayed their advance and allowed approximately 150 students in the attached school to shelter safely. The two fled and drove away; during the escape they fired on a landscaper, whose bullet was deflected by his helmet. They were found dead approximately three-tenths of a mile from the mosque. Vazquez had asked Clark to kill him; Clark shot Vazquez twice in the head and then killed himself. No criminal prosecution is possible given both perpetrators' deaths. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: NBC News. "San Diego mosque suspects' writings reveal influence of online extremism." May 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/san-diego-mosque-shooting-extremism-online-accelerationist-livestream-rcna346066 +[^2]: ADL. "San Diego Mosque Shooters' Apparent Manifestos Reveal Anti-Muslim Extremism." May 2026. https://www.adl.org/resources/article/san-diego-mosque-shooters-apparent-manifestos-reveal-anti-muslim-extremism +[^3]: Daily Beast. "Leak Reveals Mosque Gunman Cain Clark's Disturbing Racial Pride Suicide Note." May 2026. https://www.thedailybeast.com/leak-reveals-mosque-gunman-cain-clarks-disturbing-racial-pride-suicide-note/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Cameron Finnigan.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Cameron Finnigan.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e4c6892f --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Cameron Finnigan.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - O9A + - 764Network + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - Accelerationism + - Satanism + - WestSussex +location: "Horsham, West Sussex, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Cameron Finnigan was a 19-year-old from Horsham convicted in January 2025 at the Old Bailey of possessing a terrorism manual and encouraging a young woman to livestream her suicide, sentenced to six years as a member of the 764 network, which Counter Terrorism Policing described as posing an immense threat." +--- + +Cameron Finnigan, 19, of Horsham, West Sussex, joined the [[764 Network|764]] online extremist network in late 2023. [[Counter Terrorism Policing]] became aware of him in March 2024 following intelligence about his online activity. He pleaded guilty on 4 October 2024 to five counts. He was sentenced at the [[Central Criminal Court]] (Old Bailey) on 16 January 2025 by Mr Justice Jay to six years' imprisonment followed by three years' extended licence.[^1] + +### Offences + +The five counts to which Finnigan pleaded guilty were: + +One count of possessing a document for terrorist purposes under section 58 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]]: an 11-page PDF document outlining how to carry out vehicle ramming ("truck attacks") and providing attack planning information for knife and firearm mass-casualty events. + +One count of doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide under section 2 of the [[Suicide Act 1961]] as amended: Finnigan had communicated with a young woman via [[Telegram]], encouraging her to die by suicide and asking her to livestream the act to members of his online group. + +Two counts of criminal damage. + +One count of possessing indecent images of children. + +### Sentencing Remarks and Risk Assessment + +Mr Justice Jay applied a 25% reduction to the overall sentence to account for Finnigan's youth and documented mental health issues. He assessed Finnigan as posing a high risk of serious harm to the public, including children. The sentencing remarks are published on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website.[^1] + +Counter Terrorism Policing issued a public statement in connection with the sentencing describing 764 as posing "an immense threat" and characterising its ideology as "Satanic extremist" with "militant accelerationist (extreme right wing)" characteristics.[^2] + +### 764 and O9A + +764 is a decentralised online network documented extensively in the [[764 Network]] vault entry. Its connection to [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) is ideological and aesthetic rather than organisational: 764 adopted O9A visual symbolism and the structural logic of O9A's [[Insight Roles]] concept, in which committing crimes functions as a form of spiritual initiation. The [[ISD]] characterised O9A materials as having "directly influenced the operational practices of 764." Finnigan's case is the first publicly named 764-specific UK terrorism conviction where the defendant was prosecuted under section 58 for possession of attack-planning material rather than for content relating to a proscribed organisation. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: R v Cameron Finnigan, Sentencing Remarks, Central Criminal Court, 16 January 2025. Mr Justice Jay. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/R-v-Finnigan.pdf; Sussex Police. "Man sentenced for terror offences." January 2025. https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/sussex/news/court-results/man-sentenced-for-terror-offences/ + +[^2]: Counter Terrorism Policing. "Cameron Finnigan Sentencing." LinkedIn, January 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/counter-terrorism-policing_cameron-finnigan-sentencing-activity-7285970499417849858-0K5p; Counter Terror Business. "'Satanist' teenager jailed for terrorism offences." January 17, 2025. https://counterterrorbusiness.com/news/17012025/satanist-teenager-jailed-terrorism-offences diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..41f68f93 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Brazil + - SDGT +born: 1987-08-27 +location: "Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira is a Brazilian national from Belo Horizonte designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Treasury and State Department on January 13, 2025, for his role as a Terrorgram Collective channel administrator running at least six Telegram channels promoting accelerationist and white supremacist propaganda." +--- + +Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira (born August 27, 1987, [[Belo Horizonte]], [[Minas Gerais]], Brazil) is a Brazilian national designated as a [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] (SDGT) on January 13, 2025, pursuant to [[Executive Order 13224]], as amended by [[Executive Order 13886]], in connection with his role as an administrator of the [[Terrorgram Collective]]. He was one of three foreign nationals designated simultaneously alongside [[Noah Licul]] (Croatia) and [[Hendrik-Wahl Muller]] (South Africa), the same action that formally designated the Terrorgram Collective itself as a terrorist organization. No Brazilian criminal charges arising from his Terrorgram activity have been publicly confirmed as of mid-2026; the designation is a US Treasury [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) civil sanction, not a criminal indictment.[^1] + +### Designation + +The [[US Department of State]] press release of January 13, 2025, described Ferreira as "a Terrorgram channel administrator" and "a Brazilian national residing in Brazil." The simultaneously issued [[Federal Register]] notice (Vol. 90, No. 10, Document 2025-00756, published January 15, 2025) formalized the OFAC designation, assigning him SDN entry number 52486 on the [[Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List]]. The OFAC record lists his address as Rua Maranhao, 1566 Apto 502, Funcionarios, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais; his Brazilian passport number FD621325; and his National ID number 08388816616. His alias in the SDN list is "Ciro Daniel Ferreira."[^2] + +As a result of the designation, all property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction belonging to Ferreira are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from transactions with him. The designation activates secondary sanctions risk under section 1(b) of the executive order.[^1] + +### Role in the Terrorgram Collective + +The State Department described Ferreira as an administrator of at least six [[Telegram]] channels, operating under the broader [[Terrorgram Collective]] network of more than 200 Telegram channels that collectively produce and disseminate accelerationist and white supremacist propaganda. The Terrorgram Collective provides guidance and instructional materials on tactics, methods, and targets for attacks, including against critical infrastructure and government officials. Ferreira also maintained an active presence on [[Substack]], [[X (formerly Twitter)]], [[YouTube]], and [[Quora]], with an inactive [[Instagram]] profile, consistent with the Terrorgram ecosystem's use of multiple platforms to preserve redundancy against takedowns.[^1][^3] + +In 2023, Brazilian researcher [[Michele Prado]], founder of the NGO [[Stop Hate Brasil]], submitted a report to Brazil's [[ABIN]] (Agência Brasileira de Inteligência) and the [[Ministry of Justice and Public Security]] that identified Telegram channels linked to Ferreira and other members of the Terrorgram network operating in Brazil. This report represented one of the first formal institutional flaggings of Ferreira's channels to Brazilian authorities.[^3] + +### Prior Criminal Record + +Brazilian state-level records, as reported by Brazilian media following the 2025 designation, indicate that Ferreira has two prior prison records from units in [[Minas Gerais]], for crimes including theft, bodily injury, and false imprisonment. He was imprisoned twice, in 2015 and 2016, receiving court-issued release warrants in both instances. These offenses predated his documented Terrorgram activity and are unrelated to extremism or terrorism charges.[^4] + +### Pre-Extremism Activity + +According to OSINT sources cited in contemporaneous Brazilian and Latin American coverage, Ferreira previously directed a space in Belo Horizonte "dedicated to the promotion of the interests and rights of children and adolescents through information and communication technologies," an activity consistent with a civic or educational technology orientation before his documented involvement in accelerationist networks.[^4] + +### Aracruz Attack and Wolf Boy Winter + +The US government did not publicly detail in the January 2025 designation documents whether Ferreira had direct contact with [[Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni]], who carried out the [[2022 Aracruz School Shootings]] on November 25, 2022. The State Department's broader Terrorgram designation cited the Aracruz attack as one of the attacks motivated and facilitated by the Terrorgram network, alongside the October 2022 LGBTQ+ bar shooting in [[Bratislava]] and subsequent attacks. The Aracruz connection to Terrorgram was most specifically documented through [[Dallas Humber]]'s prosecution: Humber and [[Matthew Robert Allison]] discussed a Brazilian contact planning a racially motivated school attack approximately one month before the attack, and Humber subsequently created saint cards for Castiglioni.[^5] + +A figure using the [[Terrorgram]] pseudonym "[[Wolf Boy Winter]]" posted a video still from Aracruz attack surveillance footage to a major Terrorgram channel approximately two days after the November 25, 2022 attack, and contributed multiple pages to "[[The Hard Reset]]," one of Terrorgram's primary propaganda publications. Michele Prado's 2023 ABIN report identified channels linked to "Wolf Boy Winter." No public source has established the identity of "Wolf Boy Winter" as Ferreira; the two remain separately documented nodes in publicly available records.[^3] + +### International Designations + +The January 13, 2025, action designated Terrorgram as a terrorist organization and simultaneously named three foreign administrators in three different countries, a structure reflecting the network's explicitly transnational character. Noah Licul (Croatia), designated as a "senior member," had been active in the network since at least 2019 under the alias "buntovnik" and is documented in the [[Feuerkrieg Division]] to Terrorgram personnel lineage. Hendrik-Wahl Muller (South Africa) was described as a channel administrator, parallel to Ferreira's role description.[^1] + +The Terrorgram Collective had already been designated by the [[United Kingdom]] (April 2024, SI 2024/569), [[Australia]] (F2025L00762), and [[Canada]] (SOR/2025-263) before and following the US action. None of these proscription instruments publicly named Ferreira specifically. The US action of January 13, 2025 was the first government designation to name a Brazilian national as a Terrorgram Collective administrator.[^1][^6] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: US Department of State, "Terrorist Designations of The Terrorgram Collective and Three Leaders," January 13, 2025. https://2021-2025.state.gov/office-of-the-spokesperson/releases/2025/01/terrorist-designations-of-the-terrorgram-collective-and-three-leaders/ + +[^2]: Federal Register, Vol. 90, No. 10, Document 2025-00756, "Specially Designated Global Terrorist Designations of The Terrorgram Collective, Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira, Noah Licul, and Hendrik-Wahl Muller," January 15, 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/15/2025-00756/specially-designated-global-terrorist-designations-of-the-terrorgram-collective-ciro-daniel-amorim; OFAC SDN Entry 52486, sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=52486 + +[^3]: GNET (Global Network on Extremism and Technology). "Terrorgram and Youth Radicalisation: Understanding Brazil's Online Extremist Landscape," November 22, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/11/22/terrorgram-and-youth-radicalisation-understanding-brazils-online-extremist-landscape/ + +[^4]: CNN Brasil. "Quem e o brasileiro que integra a lista de terroristas do governo dos EUA," January 2025. https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/nacional/sudeste/mg/quem-e-o-brasileiro-que-integra-a-lista-de-terroristas-dos-eua/; Infobae. "Un brasileno declarado terrorista por EEUU es uno de los lideres de 'Terrorgram'," January 16, 2025. https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2025/01/16/un-brasileno-declarado-terrorista-por-eeuu-es-uno-de-los-lideres-de-terrorgram-la-red-supremacista-de-telegram/ + +[^5]: US Department of Justice, OPA. "Leader of Transnational Terrorist Group Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Soliciting Hate Crimes and Murder," December 19, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-transnational-terrorist-group-sentenced-30-years-prison-soliciting-hate-crimes-and + +[^6]: UK SI 2024/569, Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2024; Canada Gazette SOR/2025-263, December 17, 2025; Australia F2025L00762, legislation.gov.au. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Clint Borge.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Clint Borge.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..376b2a59 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Clint Borge.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - CVLT + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - ChildExploitationEnterprise + - Hawaii + - FederalCase +born: 1983 +location: "Pahoa, Hawaii" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, aliases 'Whoops' and 'Jordan', was a CVLT member from Pahoa, Hawaii who pleaded guilty in December 2025 to engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and whose identity was established through an ISUPD subpoena investigation linking a fraudulent Honolulu address to his Pahoa residence." +--- + +[[Clint Borge]] (full name Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, aliases "Whoops" and "Jordan") is a member of [[CVLT]] and the [[764 Network|764]] network, based in [[Pahoa, Hawaii]] on the Big Island. He was 41 at arrest and 42 at his December 2025 guilty plea. The investigation that identified him as the fourth core CVLT member was conducted by [[Iowa State University Police Department]] Officer [[Kami Feld]], who subpoenaed IP and payment records that linked a fictitious Honolulu address to his actual Pahoa residence.[^1] + +### Identification and Arrest + +Federal investigators at [[Homeland Security Investigations]] (HSI) had identified three of the four CVLT core leaders before Borge's real-world identity was established. His Discord alias "Whoops" was known; his identity was not. In November 2020, an Iowa State University student reported ongoing blackmail to ISUPD, and Officer Kami Feld's investigation led to subpoenas to electronic service providers. One subpoena response returned IP activity across four locations, including Hawaii. A digital payment account associated with the IP trail used the address 4 Goldfield Road, Honolulu. Feld's verification search found that address linked to several suspicious businesses but no verifiable physical location. The investigation traced from the Honolulu address to Borge's actual residence in Pahoa, Hawaii. HSI Honolulu conducted the physical arrest when the indictment was unsealed in February 2025.[^1] + +At Borge's initial appearance, a federal magistrate denied bail. He was remanded to U.S. Marshals custody and transported to Los Angeles for proceedings before District Judge [[Hernan D. Vera]] in the [[Central District of California]].[^2] + +### Federal Case (United States v. Rane, 2:25-cr-00040) + +The grand jury returned the indictment on January 17, 2025. Borge faced one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]]. DOJ filings described Borge as a member of the enterprise who participated in and directed victims during the creation of CVLT extortion videos and other CSAM. He was distinguished from [[Rohan Rane]], [[Kaleb Merritt]], and [[Collin Walker]], who were charged as leaders and administrators who also hosted and ran CVLT servers and controlled membership.[^3] + +Borge pleaded guilty in December 2025. Judge Vera scheduled his sentencing for March 12, 2026. As of May 2026, no DOJ press release announcing Borge's actual sentence had been published, suggesting the hearing may have been continued. He faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life imprisonment.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Iowa State Daily. "How ISUPD uncovered a Neo-Nazi sexual predator ring." 2025. https://iowastatedaily.com/335620/news/how-the-isupd-uncovered-a-neo-nazi-sexual-predator-ring/; Iowa State University News Service. "A call for help leads ISU Police to sexual predator, international investigation." February 12, 2025. https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2025/02/12/isu-police-exploitation +[^2]: Hawaii Tribune-Herald. "Judge: No bail for alleged CVLT member from Pahoa." February 6, 2025. https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2025/02/06/hawaii-news/judge-no-bail-for-alleged-cvlt-member-from-pahoa/; Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "Puna man accused of neo-Nazi sexploitation, 'horrific acts against children.'" February 1, 2025. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/02/01/hawaii-news/puna-man-accused-of-neo-nazi-sexploitation-horrific-acts-against-children/ +[^3]: DOJ OPA. "Four Members of Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Minors Charged with Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." February 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-members-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-minors-charged-producing-child-sexual-abuse +[^4]: DOJ OPA. "Man Pleads Guilty to Participating in Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Children into Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." March 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-participating-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-children-producing-child diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Coleman Thomas Blevins.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Coleman Thomas Blevins.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d6739b25 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Coleman Thomas Blevins.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - InJektDivision + - Texas + - Convicted +born: 1989 +location: "Kerrville, Texas" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Coleman Thomas Blevins is the founder of InJekt Division, a neo-Nazi accelerationist Telegram organization, who was arrested in May 2021 after threatening a mass shooting at a Walmart and sentenced in May 2024 to 60 months in federal prison on a felon-in-possession count." +--- + +Coleman Thomas Blevins (born approximately 1989, Kerrville, Texas) is the founder of [[InJekt Division]], a neo-Nazi accelerationist [[Telegram]] organization he established in February 2021. He operated under the alias "Korb" (also "Kørbe") and served as one of two members of the group's self-described inner circle, the "Shock Waffen Twins." Blevins was arrested in May 2021 after posting a mass-shooting threat targeting a [[Kerrville]] Walmart on social media, and was sentenced in May 2024 to 60 months in federal prison following a guilty plea to one count of felon-in-possession-of-a-firearm in the [[Western District of Texas]].[^1] + +### InJekt Division Founding + +Blevins founded InJekt Division in February 2021. Using the Telegram alias Korb, he developed the group's ideology (which he and members called "[[clerical fascism]]," a blend of accelerationist national socialism, religious framing, and misogyny) and its signature slogan, "pray for rain," referencing a desired nuclear event that would collapse civilization. During at least one far-right podcast, a person using the name Korb identified himself as the president of the organization. Blevins appeared in promotional photographs holding firearms alongside InJekt Division imagery.[^2] + +In a February 2021 Telegram post, Blevins described the inner circle as led by the "Shock Waffen Twins" (SWT), two individuals who directed all group activity and membership decisions. Photographs in InJekt Division's Telegram channel confirmed Blevins as one of the two; the second SWT member's identity was never publicly confirmed in any court document or named press account.[^2] + +[[Feuerkrieg Division]] re-emerged on Telegram in May 2021 specifically to promote and network with InJekt Division, publicly announcing a strategic partnership. InJekt Division and FKD together served as the primary organizing infrastructure for the [[United Acceleration Front]], one of two militant accelerationist Telegram coalitions documented by the [[Middlebury Institute CTEC]] and [[Tech Against Terrorism]] in their 2022 joint report on neo-fascist coalition-building.[^3] + +### Arrest and Federal Case + +On May 27, 2021, Blevins posted publicly to social media: "I'm going to Walmart," followed by a photograph of himself holding a black AR-15 rifle, and then the message, "I have no problem spending the rest of my life in prison for Shootings [sic] up Walmart." Kerr County, Texas authorities executed a search warrant on May 28, 2021. Officers found 556 rounds of ammunition in Blevins's apartment and an AR-15 with four magazines in a vehicle belonging to his roommate, consistent with the weapon in the photograph.[^1] + +The federal case, USA v. Blevins (case number 5:22-cr-00169), was filed in the [[Western District of Texas]] on April 6, 2022, on the single count of felon-in-possession-of-a-firearm. Blevins entered a guilty plea on November 28, 2023. A judge in the Western District sentenced him to 60 months (five years) in federal prison in May 2024. The prior felony that triggered the felon-in-possession charge was not specified in the available press releases.[^1][^4] + +No federal terrorism or material support charges were filed in connection with InJekt Division's Telegram activities. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-WDTX. "Kerrville Man Who Made Terrorist Threats Sentenced on Firearm Charges." May 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/kerrville-man-who-made-terrorist-threats-sentenced-firearm-charges; KSAT. "Coleman Thomas Blevins, 31, sentenced on firearm charges." May 9, 2024. https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/05/09/kerrville-man-accused-of-making-terroristic-threats-sentenced-to-5-years-on-felony-firearm-charges/ +[^2]: ADL. "Texas Man Arrested for Terrorist Threats Targeting Local Walmart." June 2021. https://www.adl.org/resources/article/texas-man-arrested-terrorist-threats-targeting-local-walmart; Raw Story. "The Kerrville Nazi who threatened to shoot up Walmart started a martyrdom cult and fantasized about a nuclear holocaust." https://www.rawstory.com/coleman-thomas-blevins/ +[^3]: Middlebury Institute CTEC / Tech Against Terrorism. "Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online." June 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/militant-accelerationism-coalitions-case-study +[^4]: PacerMonitor. USA v. Blevins, 5:22-cr-00169, Texas Western District Court. https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/44455132/USA_v_Blevins; CBS News. "Texas man arrested after authorities say they intercepted plans for a mass shooting at Walmart." May 30, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coleman-blevins-planned-walmart-mass-shooting-texas/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Conor Climo.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Conor Climo.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1d380f36 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Conor Climo.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - FeuerkriegDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - FederalCase + - Nevada + - USA + - TerroristPlot +born: 1995 +location: "Las Vegas, Nevada" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Conor Climo was a Las Vegas white supremacist and Feuerkrieg Division member sentenced to two years in federal prison in 2020 for possessing bomb-making components after an FBI undercover operation documented his plans to attack a Las Vegas synagogue and LGBTQ bar." +--- + +Conor Climo was a resident of [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] who communicated with members of [[Feuerkrieg Division]] beginning in late 2017 and developed plans to conduct arson and explosive attacks against Jewish and LGBTQ targets in the Las Vegas area. He was arrested on 8 August 2019 by the [[FBI]]'s [[Las Vegas Joint Terrorism Task Force]] and pleaded guilty in February 2020 to federal charges in the [[District of Nevada]]. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison on 13 November 2020 by U.S. District Judge [[James Mahan]].[^1] + +### Background and FKD Contact + +Climo first made contact with FKD members through encrypted internet communications in late 2017, predating the formal founding of the organization in October 2018 and suggesting early involvement with the proto-FKD online milieu. The FBI began investigating him in April 2019 after receiving intelligence about his encrypted chats with FKD members. The investigation used undercover agents posing as fellow extremists and at least one confidential informant to document Climo's operational planning.[^2] + +Climo's target list was specific and geographic. He spoke of wanting to firebomb a Las Vegas synagogue, described a scenario in which others would shoot people exiting the building as he lit the incendiary device, and compiled a journal with sketches depicting gunmen attacking an LGBTQ bar. The target list also included a fast food restaurant and a Las Vegas office of the [[Anti-Defamation League]]. In October 2017, before formal FKD communications, Climo had already attempted to recruit a homeless person to conduct surveillance on a synagogue.[^2] + +### FBI Operation and Arrest + +On 8 August 2019, FBI agents searched Climo's Las Vegas home and found bomb components and two rifles, consistent with the planning documented in his communications. He was charged with one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, specifically characterized as the component parts of a destructive device under federal explosives law. The framing of the charge around firearm possession rather than terrorism-specific statutes was consistent with the Department of Justice's prosecution strategy for FKD-adjacent cases in that period: the same approach was used in the contemporaneous [[Jarrett William Smith]] prosecution in Kansas.[^1] + +U.S. Attorney [[Nicholas A. Trutanich]] for the District of Nevada described the investigation in a press release as protecting Las Vegas's faith-based and LGBTQ communities from hate-motivated violence. + +### Guilty Plea and Sentence + +Climo pleaded guilty in February 2020. His sentencing on 13 November 2020 drew attention because prosecutors had recommended 30 months, consistent with the Smith case, but Judge Mahan sentenced Climo to 24 months. He also received six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring to follow his release. Climo apologized at sentencing. No terrorism enhancement was applied.[^1] + +The case was one of two documented US prosecutions arising from FKD membership in 2019, alongside Smith's. The absence of a terrorism enhancement in both cases distinguished them from later prosecutions of [[Atomwaffen Division|AWD]] and [[764 Network|764]] members, where enhanced charges (including the first-ever material-support terrorism count against a 764 member in 2025) became the prosecutorial standard. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Nev. "Las Vegas Man Pleads Guilty To Possession Of Bomb-Making Components." February 2020. https://www.justice.gov/usao-nv/pr/las-vegas-man-pleads-guilty-possession-bomb-making-components; Las Vegas Sun. "White supremacist sentenced to 2 years in bomb plot case." November 13, 2020. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2020/11/13/white-supremacist-sentenced-to-2-years-in-bomb-plo/ +[^2]: Times of Israel. "White supremacist jailed for 2 years over plot to bomb Las Vegas synagogue." November 2020. https://www.timesofisrael.com/white-supremacist-jailed-for-2-years-over-plot-to-bomb-las-vegas-synagogue-adl/; Washington Blade. "Nevada man guilty in plot to shoot up LGBTQ bar." February 2020. https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/02/11/nevada-man-guilty-in-plot-to-shoot-up-lgbtq-bar/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/David Brilhante.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/David Brilhante.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..985fd9d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/David Brilhante.md @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - GreggyCult + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - FederalCase + - California + - USA +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "David Brilhante, aliases 'Knight' and 'CS:GO,' was a San Diego, California leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants." +born: 1997 +location: "San Diego, California" +--- + +[[David Brilhante]], aliases "Knight" and "CS:GO," is a resident of [[San Diego, California]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1997 and was 28 at the time of his December 2025 indictment. + +### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361) + +A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Brilhante alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], and [[Camden Rodriguez]]. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]], conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^1] + +Greggy's Cult operated using coercion methods that directly informed the [[764 Network|764]] network's operational model. The group recruited minor victims through gaming platforms and social media, coerced them into producing [[CSAM]] on video, and blackmailed them with that material. [[NCITE]] tracked Greggy's Cult alongside [[CVLT]] and 764 as one of three connected precursor-successor networks accounting for 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes through December 2025. + +No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Brilhante was publicly reported as of May 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Declan George-Candiani.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Declan George-Candiani.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..46565214 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Declan George-Candiani.md @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - Satanism + - ViolentExtremism + - London +location: "Streatham, London, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Declan George-Candiani was a 26-year-old actor from Streatham convicted in October 2024 at the Old Bailey of two terrorism possession counts after being stopped at Stansted Airport, who told police he had developed an interest in the Order of Nine Angles after they found extreme right-wing material on his devices." +--- + +Declan George-Candiani (born 9 September 1999), 26, of Streatham, London, was stopped at [[Stansted Airport]] on 13 August 2024 by officers from [[Counter Terrorism Command]] exercising Schedule 7 powers under the [[Terrorism Act 2000]]. His mobile phone was analysed at the stop, and he was arrested. A subsequent search of his home yielded an iPad, also seized. He was convicted at the [[Old Bailey]] on 3 October 2024, following a jury trial, of two counts of collecting material likely to be useful to a terrorist under section 58(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000. The jury acquitted him of two further counts of the same offence. He was sentenced on 28 November 2024 to 23 months' imprisonment, plus one year on licence, plus a 10-year terrorism notification requirement.[^1] + +### Materials Found and O9A Connection + +Examination of George-Candiani's iPhone and iPad revealed a cache of extreme right-wing material including manifestos of mass killers, documents advocating the use of serious violence to achieve white supremacist goals, and guides for committing lone-wolf attacks. In police interview, he attributed his downloading of the material to an interest in [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A), describing O9A to officers as a group advocating "traditional Satanism." He also told police that he had "made a pact with the devil" and was "possessed," a statement that attracted press characterisation of him as a self-described Satanist.[^2] + +The materials specifically convicted on were "guides on how to commit 'lone wolf' attacks," categorised as information likely useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.[^1] + +### Schedule 7 Stop + +George-Candiani was an actor by occupation. The stop at Stansted was a Schedule 7 examination, a non-arrest power that allows Counter Terrorism Policing to stop and search individuals at ports and airports for up to six hours without arrest. The phone analysis during that stop generated the grounds for arrest and the subsequent home search. His case is one of two O9A-adjacent UK cases in 2024-2025 (alongside [[Cameron Finnigan]]) that established the continued active enforcement posture of Counter Terrorism Command toward individuals with documented O9A interest, in the absence of O9A's own proscription. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Metropolitan Police. "Man convicted of terrorism offences after schedule 7 stop." https://news.met.police.uk/news/man-convicted-of-terrorism-offences-after-schedule-7-stop-501766; Metropolitan Police. "Man jailed for offences under the Terrorism Act." https://news.met.police.uk/news/man-jailed-for-offences-under-the-terrorism-act-503818; Counter Terrorism Policing. "Man convicted of terrorism offences after schedule 7 stop." https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/man-convicted-of-terrorism-offences-after-schedule-7-stop/ + +[^2]: LBC. "'Devil pact' satanist actor jailed for terror material." November 2024. https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/satanist-actor-jailed-for-23-months-right-wing-documents-5HjdNdF_2/; Yahoo News UK. "'Satanist' actor found with extreme right-wing material guilty of terror charges." October 2024. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/satanist-actor-found-extreme-wing-180625834.html; HS Today. "Self Proclaimed Satanist Convicted of Terrorism Offences After Questioning at London Airport." 2024. https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/counterterrorism/self-proclaimed-satanist-convicted-of-terrorism-offences-after-questioning-at-london-airport/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Devon Arthurs.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Devon Arthurs.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..af6efd96 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Devon Arthurs.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Islam + - Murder + - Tampa + - USA + - FederalCase +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Devon Arthurs was an Atomwaffen Division member who converted to Islam and in May 2017 murdered two fellow AWD members in their shared Tampa apartment, an act that directly triggered Brandon Russell's arrest and AWD's national exposure." +born: 1999 +location: "Tampa, Florida" +--- + +[[Devon Arthurs]] was a member of [[Atomwaffen Division]] who converted to Islam, then on May 19, 2017 killed his two AWD roommates, [[Jeremy Himmelman]] and [[Andrew Oneschuk]], at the apartment they shared in Tampa, Florida with [[Brandon Russell]]. The killings and Arthurs's subsequent cooperation with law enforcement constituted the first major public exposure of AWD as an operational organization, resulted in Russell's arrest for possession of explosive materials, and triggered the sustained law enforcement attention that would disrupt the organization over the following years. + +### Conversion and Departure from AWD + +Arthurs had been a committed AWD member and a participant in the organization's accelerationist ideology before converting to Islam at some point in 2016 or early 2017. His conversion generated conflict within the apartment with Himmelman and Oneschuk, who remained committed neo-Nazis. Arthurs later told investigators that the two men had desecrated a Quran he kept in the apartment, and that he had also come to fear they would expose his prior AWD membership to others, a threat to his safety he believed required a preemptive response.[^1] + +### Murders and Hostage Standoff + +On the afternoon of May 19, 2017, while Russell was away at a [[Florida National Guard]] training exercise, Arthurs shot and killed both Himmelman (22) and Oneschuk (18) inside the Tampa apartment. After the killings, rather than fleeing, Arthurs drove to a nearby smoke shop and held customers at gunpoint inside the store while he attempted to reach a religious leader by phone. He made statements to the hostages about wanting to speak with a Muslim contact and about the crimes he had committed. + +Tampa police responded to the hostage situation and Arthurs surrendered peacefully after a standoff lasting approximately an hour. He was arrested without further violence.[^1] + +### Investigation, Russell's Exposure, and AWD Military Warnings + +After Arthurs was taken into custody and began cooperating with investigators, Tampa police and the FBI searched the apartment. The search revealed explosive materials belonging to Russell, specifically precursor chemicals and components used in the manufacture of HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide diamine). Investigators also recovered AWD propaganda materials, membership lists, and other organizational documents. + +Russell returned from his National Guard training to find law enforcement at the apartment and was subsequently arrested on explosives charges. Arthurs's cooperation directly enabled this arrest and provided investigators with their first detailed inside look at AWD's structure, membership, and activities.[^1] + +During his police interrogation, Arthurs told detectives that Atomwaffen Division "had attracted U.S. military personnel as members and was aiming to recruit more." He specifically identified Russell as having joined the [[Florida Army National Guard]] with deliberate strategic intent, stating that Russell "joined specifically for the knowledge and the training, and he wants to use that training against the government." Russell served in Company C, 53rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, [[53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team]], based in Pinellas Park, Florida. Arthurs warned that AWD members "join the military specially to get training. To get access to equipment."[^2] + +### The Florida Guard Non-Response + +The Florida Guard conducted a two-page summary investigation within three weeks of the Tampa murders. [[ProPublica]] and [[PBS Frontline]]'s 2018 investigation, based on a review of that document, found that it "contains no references to Arthurs's statements to authorities about other possible Atomwaffen members in the military" and showed "no evidence that the Guard had alerted officials in other military branches to the potential presence of Atomwaffen in their ranks." Russell had announced the creation of Atomwaffen Division on [[Iron March]] in October 2015, months before he enlisted in the Guard in February 2016; during the Guard's recruitment vetting, a radiation trefoil tattoo on his neck was documented but did not trigger further inquiry. The FBI declined repeated requests to discuss the case and what steps it took in response.[^2] + +### Legal Outcome + +Arthurs pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to a lengthy prison term in Florida state court. His cooperation with federal investigators as part of plea negotiations produced information that fed into multiple subsequent federal prosecutions of AWD members.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ProPublica / PBS Frontline. "Armed and Dangerous." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-armed-and-dangerous +[^2]: ProPublica / PBS Frontline. "An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down. What Path Officials Took Is a Mystery." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/an-atomwaffen-member-sketched-a-map-to-take-the-neo-nazis-down-what-path-officials-took-is-a-mystery; Tampa Bay Times. "How Did Florida National Guard Miss Soldier's Neo-Nazi Leanings?" 2017. https://www.tampabay.com/news/military/how-did-florida-national-guard-miss-soldiers-neo-nazi-leanings/2324930/ +[^3]: Tampa Bay Times. Coverage of Devon Arthurs sentencing. 2018. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fa9ffbc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Brazil + - SaintsCulture + - MassShooter +born: 2006 +location: "Aracruz, Espírito Santo, Brazil" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni was a 16-year-old Brazilian who attacked two schools in Aracruz in November 2022, killing four, in an attack Terrorgram Collective leader Dallas Humber mentored and subsequently memorialized with saint cards." +--- + +[[Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni]] (born approximately 2006, [[Aracruz, Espírito Santo, Brazil]]) was 16 when he attacked two schools in Aracruz on November 25, 2022, killing four people and wounding eleven. He wore military-style camouflage, a bulletproof vest, a skull mask associated with [[Atomwaffen Division]], and a homemade swastika armband, and had been active in online neo-Nazi accelerationist communities including [[Terrorgram Collective]] channels. In the prosecution of [[Dallas Humber]] in the [[Eastern District of California]], DOJ prosecutors documented that on or around October 23, 2022 - one month before the attack - Humber and [[Matthew Robert Allison]] had discussed in a secret Telegram chat a Brazilian contact planning "a racially motivated school attack in Brazil." Prosecutors attributed the Aracruz attack to Humber's guidance, and Humber subsequently created Terrorgram "saint cards" for Castiglioni and referred to him as "her kid." Castiglioni was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention - the maximum penalty available for minors under Brazilian law at the time of sentencing in December 2022.[^1] + +### The Aracruz Attacks + +On November 25, 2022, Castiglioni attacked [[Escola Estadual Primo Bitti]] first, then [[Escola Praia de Coqueiral]]. Four people were killed: student [[Selena Zagrillo]] (12), who was shot while hiding under a desk, teacher [[Maria da Penha Pereira de Melo Banhos]] (48), who was attempting to shield students, [[Cybelle Passos Bezerra Lara]] (45), and [[Flavia Amoss Merçon Leonardo]] (38). Eleven additional people were wounded. + +Castiglioni had been active on social media displaying admiration for Nazi ideology and claimed to have begun planning the attack in 2019 following a period of bullying, placing his radicalization in the same post-[[2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings|Christchurch]] window as many other Terrorgram-linked cases. No separate written manifesto was publicly confirmed; his documented online activity constituted his ideological record.[^2] + +### Terrorgram Connection + +The Humber prosecution established the most direct documented link between Terrorgram and the Aracruz attack. Court documents confirmed that on approximately October 23, 2022, Humber and Allison discussed a Brazilian contact's plans in a secret Telegram channel. Humber's subsequent creation of saint cards for Castiglioni - and her characterization of him as "her kid" - indicates a relationship extending beyond passive inspiration to something closer to the mentorship dynamic she had also maintained with prospective attackers in other countries. + +The Aracruz attack is listed in Humber's sentencing documents as the most lethal Terrorgram-attributed attack to that point. It is also cited explicitly in [[Matthew Althorpe]]'s Canadian sentencing (March 27, 2026) as one of the attacks his publications helped inspire.[^1] + +### Brazilian Legal Outcome + +Brazilian courts sentenced Castiglioni to three years in juvenile detention in December 2022, representing the maximum penalty available under Brazilian law for a minor at the time. He completed the sentence and was placed on supervised release by November 2025.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leader of Transnational Terrorist Group Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Soliciting Hate Crimes and Murder." December 19, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-transnational-terrorist-group-sentenced-30-years-prison-soliciting-hate-crimes-and; Public Prosecution Service of Canada. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html +[^2]: CBS News. "Teen suspect in Brazil school shootings wore swastika armband, police say." November 2022. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teen-suspect-brazil-school-shootings-4-killed-wore-swastika-police-say/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Gediminas Beržinskas.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Gediminas Beržinskas.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a94ecbc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Gediminas Beržinskas.md @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - FeuerkriegDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Lithuania + - TerroristConviction + - Europe +location: "Vilnius, Lithuania" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Gediminas Beržinskas was a Lithuanian Feuerkrieg Division member convicted by Vilnius Regional Court in September 2020 for planting a homemade explosive device outside a Vilnius Western Union office in October 2019, representing one of the first European criminal convictions of an FKD member." +--- + +Gediminas Beržinskas was a Lithuanian national and [[Feuerkrieg Division]] (FKD) member who planted a homemade explosive device outside a [[Western Union]] office in [[Vilnius]] on 14 October 2019 and spray-painted "FK Division," "Siege," and a swastika on the building's wall on 6 October 2019. He was detained on 15 October 2019, convicted by [[Vilnius Regional Court]], and sentenced to a net approximately 18 further months of custody under an expedited procedure that reduced the underlying term by one-third.[^1] + +### Vilnius Attack + +Beržinskas's two acts of political violence in Vilnius in October 2019 were ideologically consistent with [[Siege Culture]] and FKD's propaganda: the spray-painted messaging explicitly invoked both FKD's name and James Mason's [[Siege]], the foundational accelerationist text that underpins FKD's ideology. The bomb placement was an act of domestic terrorism aimed at financial infrastructure, consistent with the [[Atomwaffen Division]] accelerationist playbook of attacking institutional targets to precipitate societal collapse. + +Lithuanian law enforcement found bomb-making materials and a firearm in Beržinskas's possession at the time of his detention. Vilnius Regional Court convicted him of plotting a terror act, illegal possession of explosives and a firearm, and attempting to commit a crime. The case was examined under an expedited procedure.[^1] + +### UK Connection + +During the period of Beržinskas's attack planning, he was in contact with [[Paul Dunleavy]], a 17-year-old FKD member from [[Rugby]], Warwickshire, who provided him and other FKD members with firearm-conversion manuals and device-building guidance. Dunleavy's provision of that guidance was prosecuted in the United Kingdom as preparation for acts of terrorism. Dunleavy's November 2020 sentencing at [[Birmingham Crown Court]] specifically referenced the convictions in Lithuania, Germany, and the United States of three FKD members to whom Dunleavy had given assistance. British authorities separately noted the cross-border causal chain in public statements.[^2] + +Beržinskas's case therefore sits at the junction of two national prosecutions: the first-instance conviction in Lithuania and the downstream conviction of his UK-based adviser. The cases represent the most clearly documented instance of transnational criminal causation within the FKD network's documented history. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: LRT (Lithuanian National Radio and Television). "Lithuanian neo-Nazi receives 28-month sentence for attempting terror attack." September 2020. https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1235208/lithuanian-neo-nazi-receives-28-month-sentence-for-attempting-terror-attack; LRT. "Neo-Nazi admits to plotting terror attacks in Lithuanian capital." 2020. https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1222876/neo-nazi-admits-to-plotting-terror-attacks-in-lithuanian-capital +[^2]: LRT. "Britain sentences teenager who 'advised' Lithuanian neo-Nazi terrorist." 2021. https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1274096/britain-sentences-teenager-who-advised-lithuanian-neo-nazi-terrorist; Express and Star. "Boy, 17, sentenced to detention for preparing neo-Nazi acts of terrorism." November 6, 2020. https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/11/06/boy-17-sentenced-to-detention-for-preparing-neo-nazi-acts-of-terrorism/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Hector Bermudez.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Hector Bermudez.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e4e31b6c --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Hector Bermudez.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - GreggyCult + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - FederalCase + - NewYork + - USA +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Hector Bermudez, aliases 'Fiasco,' 'Rogue,' and 'Diablo,' was a Queens, New York leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants." +born: 1996 +location: "Queens, New York" +--- + +[[Hector Bermudez]], aliases "Fiasco," "Rogue," and "Diablo," is a resident of [[Queens, New York]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1996 and was 29 at the time of his December 2025 indictment. + +### Greggy's Cult and the 764 Lineage + +Greggy's Cult operated using methods that would define the [[764 Network|764]] network: recruiting minor victims through gaming platforms and social media, coercing them into producing [[CSAM]], and blackmailing victims with the material to compel ongoing compliance including self-harm. [[NCITE]] tracked Greggy's Cult alongside [[CVLT]] and 764 as three connected networks accounting for 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes through December 2025. Prominent members of 764 and related successor networks were also members of Greggy's Cult, per the DOJ's December 2025 press release.[^1] + +### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361) + +A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Bermudez alongside four co-defendants: [[Zachary Dosch]] (26, Albuquerque, New Mexico), [[Rumaldo Valdez]] (22, Wahiawa, Hawaii), [[David Brilhante]] (28, San Diego, California), and [[Camden Rodriguez]] (22, Longmont, Colorado). The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC).[^2] + +The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2] + +No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Bermudez was publicly reported as of May 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; NCITE. "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges." December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php +[^2]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/; DOJ USAO-EDNY. "Five Members of Greggy's Cult Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/five-members-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/John Cameron Denton.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/John Cameron Denton.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..18cdc30f --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/John Cameron Denton.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Swatting + - Propaganda + - FederalCase + - Texas + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "John Cameron Denton, known online as 'Rape,' was Atomwaffen Division's propaganda chief and the architect of a large-scale swatting campaign targeting journalists and civil rights organizations, convicted in federal court and sentenced to 41 months." +location: "Texas" +--- + +[[John Cameron Denton]], known online as "Rape" and under additional aliases including "Torque," was [[Atomwaffen Division]]'s primary propaganda organizer and the architect of a large-scale swatting campaign that targeted journalists and civil rights organizations who had reported on or tracked AWD's activities. He was arrested by the FBI and convicted in federal court, receiving a 41-month sentence. + +### AWD Propaganda Role + +Denton served as a key organizer of AWD's propaganda and online operations from his base in Texas. In that role he coordinated the production and distribution of AWD's recruitment materials, maintained the network's online presence across multiple platforms, and helped manage the organization's internal communications infrastructure. His work made AWD's propaganda some of the most recognizable neo-Nazi extremist content circulating on the early-to-mid 2010s internet, with its distinctive skull mask aesthetic and accelerationist messaging.[^1] + +### Swatting Campaign + +Beginning in late 2018 and continuing into 2019, Denton organized and executed a coordinated swatting campaign targeting individuals and organizations he and other AWD members viewed as enemies. Documented targets included a Virginia university, a former U.S. Cabinet member, a historic Black church outside Washington, D.C., an Islamic Center in Arlington, Texas, and journalists and civil rights organizations that monitored extremist activity. Federal prosecutors described it as "the most widespread swatting conspiracy in the country" known to law enforcement. Swatting - the practice of making false emergency reports to law enforcement to trigger armed police responses at a target's location - constitutes a serious felony and carries the risk of lethal violence against victims; several people in the United States have been killed by police in swatting incidents. + +Denton's campaign involved directing other AWD members to make false reports about specific targets, coordinating the timing and choice of victims, and using VoIP services and other tools to disguise the origin of the calls. The campaign represented AWD's use of harassment and intimidation as an organizational tactic alongside its advocacy for direct violence.[^2] + +### Arrest and Conviction + +The FBI investigated Denton's swatting operation and he was arrested in a raid on his home in Conroe, Texas, on February 26, 2020. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia in May 2021 to 41 months in federal prison, with a hate crime enhancement applied. Denton expressed no remorse at sentencing. The case was among the first federal convictions of an AWD member following [[Brandon Russell]]'s 2018 explosives conviction and was part of the sustained law enforcement campaign that dismantled AWD's leadership between 2018 and 2022.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ProPublica / PBS Frontline. "Armed and Dangerous." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-armed-and-dangerous +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. Federal conviction and sentencing records for John Cameron Denton. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/John Cartwright II.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/John Cartwright II.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..732a1dd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/John Cartwright II.md @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - IronMarch + - NeoNazi + - Moderator + - Military + - Navy + - USA + - Maryland +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "John Cartwright II, username 'Blood and Iron,' was an Iron March moderator who joined the forum in September 2011 at its founding and was identified through the 2019 database leak as a U.S. Navy member residing in Millersville, Maryland." +location: "Millersville, Maryland" +--- + +[[John Cartwright II]], operating under the username "Blood and Iron," was a moderator of the [[Iron March]] neo-fascist web forum and a member of the [[United States Navy]] identified through the 2019 Iron March database leak. + +### Forum Role and Timeline + +Cartwright joined Iron March in September 2011, immediately following the forum's launch on ironmarch.org, making him one of the earliest members of the permanent community. His early arrival gave him extensive interaction with [[Alisher Mukhitdinov]] ("Alexander Slavros") and the forum's core organizers across the full span of the platform's operation. + +His moderator status placed him within the administrative tier that included [[Benjamin Raymond]], co-founder of [[National Action]], and other senior figures whose presence shaped the forum's content policies and community norms. As a moderator, Cartwright had administrative access to the forum's backend functions beyond those available to regular users.[^1] + +Database records and private message content from the leaked SQL dump established his identity. He participated in a Skype group organized by [[Jacob Rutledge]] (username "American Blackshirt"), an Indianapolis-based Iron March organizer, where he offered to contribute articles on the Occupy movement and on "shabby modern art" as topics of interest.[^1] + +### Identification + +The [[Iron March Dossiers]] project identified Cartwright in a post published March 13, 2020. The identification used the combination of his registered email address, self-disclosed personal details in private messages, and cross-referenced social media footprints accumulated over his years of Iron March activity. At the time of identification, he was reported to be a U.S. Navy member living in Millersville, Maryland. No criminal charges followed the identification, and no public record confirms any Navy investigation or administrative action in his case.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Iron March Dossiers. "John Cartwright II, aka Blood and Iron, Moderator of Neo-Nazi Forum Iron March." March 13, 2020. https://ironmarch.noblogs.org/post/2020/03/13/john-cartwright-ii-moderator-of-neo-nazi-forum-iron-march/; Anarchist Federation. "John Cartwright II, aka Blood and Iron, Moderator of Neo-Nazi Forum Iron March." https://www.anarchistfederation.net/john-cartwright-ii-aka-blood-and-iron-moderator-of-neo-nazi-forum-iron-march/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kaleb Cole.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kaleb Cole.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0fc8a515 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kaleb Cole.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Intimidation + - FederalCase + - Washington + - Russia + - RussianImperialMovement + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Kaleb Cole was a Washington state-based Atomwaffen Division leader who received paramilitary training from the Russian Imperial Movement in St. Petersburg in 2018, ran a coordinated intimidation campaign against journalists and activists, and was convicted of civil rights conspiracy and sentenced to 84 months in federal prison." +location: "Washington State" +--- + +[[Kaleb Cole]] was a Washington state-based [[Atomwaffen Division]] leader who rose to prominence within the organization following [[Brandon Russell]]'s 2018 imprisonment and ran a sustained intimidation campaign targeting journalists, civil rights workers, and others who reported on or monitored AWD's activities. In 2018 he traveled to [[Russia]] for paramilitary training with the [[Russian Imperial Movement]] at their [[Partizan]] camp in [[St. Petersburg]]. He was convicted in federal court of civil rights conspiracy charges and sentenced to 84 months (seven years) in federal prison.[^1] + +### Rise Within AWD + +Cole became one of AWD's most operationally active members in the period after Russell's initial incarceration. He worked to maintain the organization's cohesion and continued its recruitment and propaganda activities while Russell was imprisoned. His role in AWD's operations placed him at the center of the organization's internal communications and gave him visibility into the network's full scope of activities.[^1] + +### Russia Training Trip (2018) + +In 2018, Cole traveled to Europe with fellow AWD member [[Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh]] of Olympia, Washington, on a trip that included passage through [[Ukraine]] via the Donbas green corridor into Russia, followed by attendance at the Russian Imperial Movement's Partizan paramilitary training facility in St. Petersburg. The training covered firearms, explosives, squad movement, and tactical operations. Former Russian military instructors ran the program. The same facility had trained members of the [[Nordic Resistance Movement]] from [[Sweden]] in 2016, who subsequently carried out bombings in Gothenburg in 2017, the case that formed the basis for the U.S. State Department's 2020 designation of RIM as an SDGT entity.[^2] + +After completing Partizan training, Cole and Bruce-Umbaugh traveled back through Ukraine into Poland and documented the trip with a photograph at [[Auschwitz]] concentration camp. The Russia trip is referenced in federal prosecution materials from both Cole's case (2:20-cr-00032, [[Western District of Washington]]) and Bruce-Umbaugh's case (5:19-cr-00130, [[Northern District of Texas]]), and is documented in investigative reporting on AWD's transnational connections.[^3] + +The RIM training represents the most documented instance of a senior AWD leader receiving in-person foreign paramilitary training from an organization later designated a terrorist entity by the U.S. government. The [[CTC West Point]] analysis of the skull-mask neo-fascist network notes that RIM also trained additional U.S. nationals affiliated with AWD at Partizan in approximately 2020, beyond the 2018 Cole/Bruce-Umbaugh trip.[^4] + +### Intimidation Campaign + +Following the [[2019 AWD Nuclear Congress]], [[Cameron Shea]] created an encrypted [[Wire]] messaging group named [[Operation Erste Saule]] (German: "First Pillar") to coordinate a campaign of harassment and intimidation against journalists and civil rights workers who had reported on AWD. Cole participated in that campaign's physical execution: he and associates mailed threatening posters to the homes of Jewish activists and journalists of color, bearing swastikas, skulls, and phrases including "We know where you live" and "Death to Pigs"; the materials were also physically affixed to victims' homes and property. The campaign combined doxxing with the implicit threat of violence against AWD critics.[^1] + +### Federal Investigation and Conviction + +The FBI investigated Cole's intimidation operations. He was arrested in 2020 as part of the broader federal crackdown on AWD leadership that also ensnared [[John Cameron Denton]], [[Ethan Phelan Melzer]], and others during that period. + +Cole was convicted by a federal jury in the Western District of Washington on all five counts: conspiracy to commit hate crimes, mailing threatening communications, cyberstalking (two counts), and a fifth related count. He was sentenced to 84 months (seven years) in federal prison. The case drew national attention in 2021 when motion-to-suppress filings revealed that [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]], who had infiltrated AWD as a senior leader, had been an FBI informant throughout his entire tenure inside the organization.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Member of Violent Extremist Group Sentenced to 84 Months for Civil Rights Conspiracy." https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/member-violent-extremist-group-sentenced-84-months-civil-rights-conspiracy +[^2]: Malcontent News. "Washington's Defunct Atomwaffen Division had Deep Ties to the Terrorist Org, Russia Imperialist Movement." July 4, 2022. https://malcontentment.com/washingtons-defunct-atomwaffen-division-had-deep-ties-to-the-terrorist-org-russia-imperialist-movement/; Cipher Brief. "Examining Atomwaffen Division's Transnational Linkages." https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/examining-atomwaffen-divisions-transnational-linkages +[^3]: GovInfo. USA v. Bruce-Umbaugh, 5:19-cr-00130 (N.D. Tex.). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-txnd-5_19-cr-00130/USCOURTS-txnd-5_19-cr-00130-0 +[^4]: CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kami Feld.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kami Feld.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1018c2ef --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kami Feld.md @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +--- +category: "Law Enforcement & Legal" +tags: + - Person + - LawEnforcement + - CVLT + - ChildExploitation + - Iowa + - ISUPD +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Kami Feld is an Iowa State University Police Department officer whose 2020 investigation of a student blackmail complaint surfaced the identity of CVLT's fourth core member, completing the federal case that led to indictments in January 2025." +--- + +[[Kami Feld]] is an officer with the [[Iowa State University Police Department]] (ISUPD) whose independent investigative work in 2020-2021 identified [[Clint Borge]], the previously unknown fourth core leader of [[CVLT]], completing the information picture that [[Homeland Security Investigations]] needed to seek a federal indictment against all four defendants. + +### Iowa State Investigation + +In November 2020, an Iowa State University freshman approached ISUPD to report that she was being blackmailed with sexual images taken of her when she was 16. A patrol officer initially interviewed the victim, and Officer Kami Feld took up the investigative work. + +Feld issued subpoenas to electronic service providers including Google, PayPal, Venmo, Instagram, and Facebook. The subpoena responses returned IP activity across four different locations, including [[Hawaii]], [[Oregon]], and [[California]]. Feld also issued a search warrant.[^1] + +At this point, Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles was already investigating CVLT and had identified three of the four core leaders. The fourth was known only by the Discord alias "Whoops." Feld's subpoena results, combined with a digital wallet account associated with the target's IP activity, returned an address: 4 Goldfield Road, Honolulu, Hawaii. Feld ran a verification search and found the address linked to several questionable businesses with no verifiable physical location. Further investigation traced the activity not to Honolulu but to [[Pahoa, Hawaii]] on the Big Island, establishing the real-world identity as [[Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge]].[^1] + +Feld's investigation connected to the existing HSI case. Once HSI confirmed the Borge identification, investigators proceeded to the January 17, 2025 grand jury indictment. Borge, [[Collin Walker]], [[Kaleb Merritt]], and [[Rohan Rane]] were indicted in [[United States v. Rane et al. (2-25-cr-00040)|United States v. Rane et al., 2:25-cr-00040]], [[Central District of California]].[^2] + +### Recognition + +Iowa State University and ISUPD credited the original student complainant and Feld's investigative work publicly in February 2025, when the indictment was unsealed. Multiple news accounts identified the Iowa State case as the investigative link that broke open the fourth identification and allowed the federal prosecution to proceed against the full leadership of the enterprise.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Iowa State Daily. "How ISUPD uncovered a Neo-Nazi sexual predator ring." 2025. https://iowastatedaily.com/335620/news/how-the-isupd-uncovered-a-neo-nazi-sexual-predator-ring/; Iowa State University News Service. "A call for help leads ISU Police to sexual predator, international investigation." February 12, 2025. https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2025/02/12/isu-police-exploitation; Iowa State Daily. "Student report to ISUPD leads to charges for neo-Nazis." 2025. https://iowastatedaily.com/310219/news/student-report-to-isupd-leads-to-neo-nazi-charges/ +[^2]: DOJ OPA. "Four Members of Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Minors Charged with Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." February 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-members-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-minors-charged-producing-child-sexual-abuse diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Liam Collins (AWD).md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Liam Collins (AWD).md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a24216c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Liam Collins (AWD).md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - IronMarch + - NeoNazi + - Military + - FederalCase + - NorthCarolina + - USA + - PowerGridConspiracy +born: 1999 +location: "Camp Lejeune, North Carolina" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Liam Collins was a former U.S. Marine and Iron March leader who co-conspired with other AWD-adjacent Iron March members to attack power infrastructure in the northwestern United States, and was sentenced to 10 years in the Eastern District of North Carolina in July 2024." +--- + +Liam Collins was a former United States Marine who served at [[Camp Lejeune]], North Carolina, and a leader on the [[Iron March]] neo-Nazi forum. After leaving the Marines, Collins organized with [[Paul James Kryscuk]], [[Jordan Duncan]] (a fellow former Marine), [[Joseph Maurino]] (a New Jersey National Guardsman), and [[Justin Wade Hermanson]] in an accelerationist network that planned attacks on power grid infrastructure in the northwestern United States. The group's propaganda video featured participants in [[Atomwaffen Division]] skull masks. Collins was convicted in the [[Eastern District of North Carolina]] and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on July 25, 2024.[^1] + +### Iron March and AWD Connection + +Collins and Kryscuk met through Iron March, the neo-fascist forum that served as AWD's founding platform, and used the forum to recruit additional members before it closed in late 2017. Their group is described by prosecutors as having "ties to racially motivated violent extremists" including AWD and using the same iconography, including AWD skull masks during training sessions and a "black sun" symbol in propaganda videos. Whether Collins was a formal AWD member is not confirmed in court documents; the government's characterization is that the group was Iron March-derived and AWD-adjacent rather than AWD-structured.[^2] + +### The Conspiracy + +From approximately 2017 to 2020, Collins's network communicated through encrypted messaging applications, conducted paramilitary training in the desert near [[Boise, Idaho]], and planned attacks on power grid components in Idaho and surrounding states. The group researched a prior power substation attack (executed by an unknown group) as a model. In October 2020, federal agents found a handwritten list in Kryscuk's possession identifying approximately a dozen intersections and locations in the Pacific Northwest containing power grid infrastructure. Collins allegedly stole military gear during his Marine service for use in the plot; Duncan shared a military-derived library containing information on firearms, explosives, and nerve toxins.[^2] + +Joseph Maurino, then a New Jersey Army National Guard infantryman, supplied untraceable "ghost guns" and silencers to other network members, according to the superseding indictment. Maurino communicated via text messages recovered by the FBI in which he offered an "untraceable Glock" for $600. + +### Charges and Sentencing + +The five defendants received a third superseding indictment in the Eastern District of North Carolina in August 2021 that added a charge of conspiracy to damage the property of a United States energy facility under 18 U.S.C. § 1366. Their sentences, imposed in July and October 2024, were:[^3] + +Liam Collins: 120 months (10 years), aiding and abetting interstate transportation of unregistered firearms. +Jordan Duncan: 84 months (7 years), manufacturing a short-barrel rifle in violation of the National Firearms Act. +Paul James Kryscuk: 78 months (6.5 years), conspiracy to damage an energy facility. +Joseph Maurino: 21 months, conspiracy to manufacture firearms. +Justin Wade Hermanson: 21 months, conspiracy to manufacture firearms. + +### Military Background of Defendants + +Collins and Duncan were both former Marine infantrymen previously assigned to Camp Lejeune. Maurino was an active National Guardsman at the time of his offense. The combination of Marine training (Collins and Duncan) and National Guard access to military equipment (Maurino) in a single conspiracy network exemplifies the type of military-skills-to-extremist-network pipeline that the 2021 [[DoD Extremism Stand-Down (2021)|Defense Department stand-down]] sought to address.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDNC. "Defendants with Ties to White Supremacy Sentenced in Connection with Plot to Destroy Energy Facilities." July 25, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/defendants-ties-white-supremacy-sentenced-connection-plot-destroy-energy-facilities + +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDNC. "Group With Ties to Racially Motivated Violent Extremists Including Two Former Marines Facing Additional Charge of Targeting Energy Facilities." August 2021. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/group-ties-racially-motivated-violent-extremists-including-two-former-marines-facing + +[^3]: Military.com. "Neo-Nazi Plot to Attack Power Grid Leads to Prison Sentences for 2 Former Camp Lejeune Marines." July 26, 2024. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/07/26/2-former-marines-get-prison-sentences-neo-nazi-plot-attack-power-grid-us-northwest.html; Military.com. "Marine Veteran Connected to Neo-Nazi Power Grid Attack Plot Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison." October 29, 2024. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/10/29/marine-veteran-connected-neo-nazi-power-grid-attack-plot-sentenced-7-years-prison.html + +[^4]: Stars and Stripes. "Marine Veteran Pleads Guilty in Neo-Nazi Plot to Damage Power Grid." June 25, 2024. https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-06-25/nazi-iron-march-firearms-plot-guilty-14291621.html diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Luca Benincasa.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Luca Benincasa.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..28110abb --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Luca Benincasa.md @@ -0,0 +1,55 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - FeuerkriegDivision + - O9A + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - UK + - Wales + - TerroristConviction + - CSAM + - UKTerrorism +born: 2002 +location: "Cardiff, Wales" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Luca Benincasa was a Cardiff neo-Nazi sentenced to nine years and three months at Winchester Crown Court in January 2023, becoming the first person convicted under the UK proscription of Feuerkrieg Division for membership in a proscribed organization and possession of bomb-making materials." +--- + +Luca Benincasa, 20, of [[Cardiff]], specifically the [[Whitchurch, Cardiff|Whitchurch]] area, was the first person convicted in the United Kingdom of belonging to [[Feuerkrieg Division]] following its proscription under [[The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2020]] (SI 2020/743) on 17 July 2020. He pleaded guilty at [[Winchester Crown Court]] on 15 July 2022 and was sentenced on 26 January 2023 by Judge [[Jane Miller KC]] to nine years and three months in a young offenders institution.[^1] + +### Arrest and Searches + +Counter-terrorism police raided both of Benincasa's separated parents' respective homes in [[Cardiff]] in January 2022. The searches produced a tactical vest, camouflage clothing, an [[SS]] officer's dagger and hat, a Nazi Party armband, masks, and a large quantity of white supremacist literature. Additionally, his digital devices contained bomb-making instructions and other material classified as information likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism.[^1] + +Benincasa had served as a recruiter and described himself as a "prominent member" of FKD. He was identified as a key figure in FKD's UK operations in the period after the organization's reconstitution on [[Telegram]] in May 2021. + +### Charges and Plea + +At Winchester Crown Court, Benincasa entered guilty pleas to: + +- one count of membership of a proscribed organization (the Feuerkrieg Division, proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000) +- four counts of collecting or possessing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism (Terrorism Act 2000, s. 58), covering bomb-making instructions, on or before 1 February 2022 + +In a subsequent hearing, he also pleaded guilty to: + +- three counts of possessing indecent images of children (ages 4 to 7) +- one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image +- one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child + +The CSAM and terrorism charges were prosecuted together, following the pattern documented in multiple [[764 Network|764]] and FKD cases in which CSAM possession coincides with and reinforces violent accelerationist activity.[^2] + +### Sentence + +Judge Miller KC imposed a total sentence of nine years and three months: five years and seven months for the terrorism offences, a consecutive eight months for the CSAM offences, plus a three-year extended licence on the terrorism counts. The sentence was to be served in a young offenders institution. Miller KC told Benincasa: "By 1st February 2022 you were calling yourself the UK cell leader of FKD and one of its recruiters," and concluded: "You were clearly a prominent member of the organisation." She described Benincasa as presenting a "serious risk" to the public.[^1] + +The nine-year sentence was the longest imposed on any FKD-connected defendant in the UK to that point, exceeding [[Luke Hunter]]'s four-year-and-two-month term (2020), the Cornwall teenager's 24-month rehabilitation order (2021), and [[Paul Dunleavy]]'s five-and-a-half-year term (2020). + +Press coverage of the case, including ITV News Wales and Tell MAMA reporting, described Benincasa as a "prominent ONA member." Whether the published sentencing remarks specifically use that language has not been independently verified from the primary text and constitutes an open thread. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Tell MAMA UK. "Neo-Nazi Luca Benincasa jailed for terrorism offences and child abuse images." January 2023. https://tellmamauk.org/neo-nazi-luca-benincasa-jailed-for-terrorism-offences-and-child-abuse-images/; ITV News Wales. "Neo-Nazi, 20, from Cardiff jailed for being member of far-right terror group." January 26, 2023. https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2023-01-26/dangerous-neo-nazi-jailed-for-being-a-member-of-far-right-terror-group; Nation.cymru. "Cardiff man becomes first person convicted of belonging to neo-Nazi Feuerkrieg Division." https://nation.cymru/news/cardiff-man-becomes-first-person-convicted-of-belonging-to-neo-nazi-feuerkrieg-division/ +[^2]: Counter Extremism Project. "Feuerkrieg Division." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/feuerkrieg-division diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Matthew Althorpe.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Matthew Althorpe.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..346a0a1a --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Matthew Althorpe.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Canada + - TerroristConviction +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Matthew Althorpe is a Canadian co-founder of the Terrorgram Collective who previously served as an Atomwaffen Division propagandist, co-authored its three major publications, and was sentenced to 20 years in Canadian federal prison in March 2026." +born: 1996 +location: "Niagara, Ontario, Canada" +--- + +[[Matthew Althorpe]] (born approximately 1996, Niagara region, [[Ontario]], Canada) co-founded the [[Terrorgram Collective]] alongside Slovak co-founder [[Pavol Beňadik]] in the summer of 2019 after serving as a propagandist for [[Atomwaffen Division]] from approximately 2018. He co-authored Terrorgram's three major zine-format publications and co-ran its Telegram channels until his arrest on December 8, 2023. On March 27, 2026, Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly sentenced him to 20 years in Canadian federal prison (parole-eligible at 10 years) following his guilty plea to three terrorism charges, finding that his propaganda had directly inspired at least six attacks including the [[Juraj Krajčík|October 2022 Bratislava shooting]] and a 2024 mosque stabbing in Turkey.[^1][^2] + +### Background and AWD Connection + +Before co-founding Terrorgram, Althorpe had been active within Atomwaffen Division's propaganda infrastructure from approximately 2018, producing accelerationist content in that context. He also had documented involvement with [[Active Club Canada]], the Canadian branch of the far-right physical fitness and organizing network founded by American white nationalist Robert Rundo. His pre-Terrorgram history placed him at the nexus of the post-AWD accelerationist diaspora that coalesced on Telegram following AWD's partial disruption by federal prosecutions and the deplatforming of platforms like [[Iron March]]. + +### Terrorgram Publications + +Althorpe co-authored all three of Terrorgram's major publications as part of the collective's inner circle: + +*Militant Accelerationism: A Collective Handbook* (136 pp., June 2021), framing terrorism as "the language of the unheard" and providing ideological and tactical guidance for lone-wolf attacks. + +*Do It For The Gram: The Collected Writings of Terrorgram* (268 pp., December 2021), maintaining and extending the first publication's operational argument. + +*The Hard Reset: A Terrorgram Production* (261 pp., July 2022), the network's most operationally specific work, with detailed instructions for attacks and critical infrastructure sabotage. + +These publications became the Terrorgram Collective's most widely cited and distributed output, circulating through the broader accelerationist Telegram ecosystem and reaching individuals who had no prior direct AWD or Terrorgram connection.[^3] + +### Arrest and Prosecution + +Althorpe was arrested on December 8, 2023 in Canada and charged with three terrorism offenses under the Criminal Code of Canada: facilitating terrorist activity, instructing others to carry out terrorist activity, and committing an indictable offense for a terrorist group. He pleaded guilty to all three charges. + +On March 27, 2026, Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly sentenced Althorpe to 20 years in Canadian federal prison, with parole eligibility at 10 years. Justice Kelly found that Althorpe's publications had directly inspired at least six attacks, including the October 2022 Bratislava LGBTQ+ bar shooting by [[Juraj Krajčík]] and the August 2024 [[Arda Küçükyetim|Eskisehir mosque stabbing]] in Turkey. The [[Public Prosecution Service of Canada]] described the sentence as reflecting the severity of publishing propaganda that served as an operational guide for mass violence.[^1][^2] + +The sentence made Althorpe one of the most heavily sentenced Terrorgram figures in any jurisdiction, behind only [[Dallas Humber]]'s 30-year U.S. federal sentence. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Public Prosecution Service of Canada. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html +[^2]: CBC News. "Niagara man sentenced for terrorism after guilty plea in Terrorgram Collective case." March 2026. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/niagara-matthew-althorpe-terrorism-9.7144637 +[^3]: ARC Research. "Terrorgram's Propaganda: An Overview of Publications Designed to Incite Accelerationist Terrorism Attacks." https://www.accresearch.org/accreports/terrorgrams-propaganda-an-overview-of-publications-designed-to-incite-accelerationist-terrorism-attacks diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Matthew Robert Allison.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Matthew Robert Allison.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fcf12ee3 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Matthew Robert Allison.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - FederalCase + - Idaho + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Matthew Robert Allison is a Boise, Idaho DJ and Terrorgram Collective co-leader who served as the network's primary video producer under the alias 'BTC' (BanThisChannel), arrested September 2024 and facing 15 federal counts in the Eastern District of California with trial pending as of May 2026." +born: 1987 +location: "Boise, Idaho" +--- + +Matthew Robert Allison (born approximately 1987, raised in [[Perris, California]], longtime resident of [[Boise, Idaho]]) co-led the [[Terrorgram Collective]] with [[Dallas Humber]] and was the network's primary video producer, creating approximately 120 videos over five years including the quasi-documentary "White Terror," which glorified more than 100 far-right killers as models for emulation. He operated under the alias "BTC" (short for BanThisChannel). He was arrested on September 5, 2024, in the same [[FBI]] operation that apprehended Humber, charged in case [[United States v. Humber|2:24-cr-00257]] in the [[Eastern District of California]] on 15 federal counts, and pleaded not guilty. His trial remained pending as of May 2026.[^1] + +### Early Life and Radicalization + +Allison was the first of four children, grew up in Perris, California, and showed musical aptitude early. He turned down a college offer to follow a friend to [[Boise, Idaho]], where he spent 17 of the next 19 years. He worked a succession of low-wage service jobs (convenience stores, bakeries) while DJing electronic dance music sets on Saturday nights. Friends described him as gentle and socially inclusive; he maintained a long-term romantic relationship with a male coworker from approximately 2013 onward. His father, [[John Allison]], later refused cooperation with FBI investigators.[^2] + +Federal prosecutors stated that from approximately age 10, Allison had exhibited interest in graphic violent material, including beheadings. His documented radicalization path unfolded across three phases: + +2018: Allison began posting content under the BanThisChannel name on [[YouTube]], initially featuring conservative political material (Tucker Carlson clips, similar fare). The content grew progressively more racist, homophobic, and antisemitic. YouTube removed him following a post of the [[Nazi Party]] anthem. + +2020: Following a romantic breakup and his brother's imprisonment on drug charges, Allison left Idaho. He stayed briefly in Nevada caring for his brother's children, then six months with his father in Utah, where he reportedly spent most of his time on his computer. He asked his father for help launching a Nazi propaganda website; his father refused. He returned to Boise. + +2021 onward: Allison migrated to [[Telegram]], where he operated with minimal platform enforcement for approximately five years. By December 2021, he had boasted that 50 of his channels had been banned; they consistently reappeared under modified names.[^2] + +### Content Production and Propaganda + +Allison's documented video production for Terrorgram channels comprised approximately 120 videos. His video content complemented the publications that Humber and [[Matthew Althorpe]] had co-authored, providing audiovisual material to accompany the written propaganda. His two most significant works: + +"Last Battle" (approximately 6 minutes): deployed white-victimhood framing through a montage of imagery depicting drag queens, immigrant arrivals, Black crime, interracial marriage, and an alleged "Jewish communist takeover." + +"White Terror" (approximately 24 minutes): a quasi-documentary celebrating 105 individuals who had committed far-right terrorism, presenting them as a coherent tradition of resistance and providing narration, graphics, and archival material designed to frame their violence as heroic.[^2] + +Allison also produced a 51-second clip providing specific guidance on disabling electrical transmission lines, which was identified by prosecutors as a direct vector for infrastructure radicalization. [[Andrew Takhistov]] (East Brunswick, New Jersey), charged in July 2024 with soliciting the destruction of [[PSE&G]] substations, was documented as having watched Allison's electrical line sabotage video before planning his own attack.[^2] + +He distributed "trading card"-format hit lists featuring targets' home addresses and photographs of their residences, a production format shared with [[Noah Lamb]]'s "The List" work and the broader [[Saints Culture]] framework. He also distributed guides for producing napalm, thermite, chlorine gas, pipe bombs, and dirty bombs through the Terrorgram channel network.[^2] + +Following the October 2022 [[Bratislava]] shooting by [[Juraj Krajčík]], who killed two people at an LGBTQ+ bar, Krajčík was documented as having sent his manifesto to Allison before the attack. Prosecutors presented this as evidence of Allison's direct contact with an attacker in his network's radicalization pipeline.[^1] + +### Arrest Evidence + +The FBI arrested Allison on September 5, 2024, at his Boise residence. Items found in his backpack at arrest included zip ties, duct tape, ammunition, a firearm, a knife, lockpicking equipment, two phones, and a thumbdrive. His apartment contained an assault rifle, two laptops, and a "go bag" stocked with $1,500 cash, a black balaclava, and skull masks associated with [[Atomwaffen Division]]. + +Investigators also recovered handwritten documents titled "Commit Homicide" and "Post-Mortem Disembowelment," which contained graphic written fantasies involving murder and sexual assault. Allison's defense team argued these were high school lyrics for a death metal band called "Putrid Flesh."[^1][^2] + +### Legal Proceedings + +Allison was extradited from Idaho to California to face trial in the Eastern District of California before U.S. District Judge [[Dena Coggins]]. He pleaded not guilty to all 15 counts. Against the advice of defense counsel, he granted two jailhouse interviews while awaiting trial, characterizing himself as a video "artist" and asserting that his work was protected by the [[First Amendment]]. He called the indictment "offensive" and denied that he had incited violence, describing himself as a chat participant rather than an organizational leader.[^2] + +The 15 counts charged against Allison are identical to those charged against Humber: one count of conspiracy; four counts of soliciting hate crimes; three counts of soliciting the murder of federal officials; three counts of doxing federal officials; one count of threatening communications; two counts of distributing bombmaking instructions; and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists under [[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]]. Combined maximum exposure is 220 years.[^1] + +As of May 2026, no trial date had been publicly announced. Allison remained the most senior Terrorgram figure facing unresolved proceedings in the United States following Humber's December 2025 sentencing to 30 years.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged with Soliciting Hate Crimes, Soliciting the Murder of Federal Officials, and Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists." September 9, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/leaders-transnational-terrorist-group-charged-soliciting-hate-crimes-soliciting-murder; KIVI-TV (Boise). "Boise man accused of leading online terrorist group will face trial in California." https://www.kivitv.com/downtown-boise/boise-man-accused-of-leading-online-terrorist-group-will-face-trial-in-california +[^2]: ProPublica / PBS FRONTLINE. "Secret Life of Matthew Allison: Goofy DJ, Accused Terrorgram Leader." March 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/matthew-allison-dj-terrogram-collective-boise-dallas-humber diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Michail Chkhikvishvili.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Michail Chkhikvishvili.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1e578edd --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Michail Chkhikvishvili.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - ManiacMurderCult + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - FederalCase + - USA + - TerroristConviction + - Georgia +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Michail Chkhikvishvili (alias 'Commander Butcher') is a Georgian national who led Maniac Murder Cult after its founder's arrest, extradited from Moldova in 2025 and sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in May 2026." +location: "Georgia (country)" +--- + +[[Michail Chkhikvishvili]], operating under the alias "Commander Butcher," is a Georgian national who assumed operational leadership of [[Maniac Murder Cult]] (MKY) after the network's Ukrainian founder [[Yegor Krasnov]] was arrested by Ukrainian authorities in 2020. Under Chkhikvishvili's direction, MKY expanded internationally through [[Telegram]] recruitment and continued its pattern of soliciting and glorifying real-world violence as both ideological expression and organizational initiation. He was indicted in the [[Eastern District of New York]] in July 2024, arrested in [[Chisinau]], [[Moldova]] in the same month, extradited to the United States in May 2025, and pleaded guilty in November 2025. U.S. District Judge [[Carol Bagley Amon]] sentenced him to 15 years in federal prison in May 2026.[^1] + +### Leadership of Maniac Murder Cult + +Chkhikvishvili assumed MKY leadership following Krasnov's 2020 detention and expanded the network's geographic reach beyond its Ukrainian origins. He maintained MKY's core operational model - the "Murder Points" rank system that assigns numerical values to criminal acts escalating from vandalism through assault to terrorism - while recruiting internationally through Telegram channels and using encrypted [[Wire]] and [[Matrix]] applications for internal communications. + +Under his leadership, MKY members were linked to several real-world attacks, most significantly the 2022 Romanian case in which a 17-year-old livestreamed the murder of an elderly woman as an initiation act (the perpetrator was convicted in August 2023 to 14 years), and the August 2024 [[Eskisehir]] mosque stabbing in Turkey. + +His alias was cited by name in the manifesto left by [[Solomon Henderson]], 17, who shot and killed student [[Josselin Corea Escalante]] at Antioch High School in [[Nashville, Tennessee]] on January 22, 2025, before dying by suicide. The [[Nashville Metropolitan Police Department]]'s January 2026 investigative update concluded Henderson had no co-conspirators and found no evidence of direct operational direction from MKY.[^2] + +### Indictment, Extradition, and Conviction + +A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] indicted Chkhikvishvili in July 2024 on charges of soliciting hate crimes and planning a mass casualty attack in New York City. Moldovan authorities arrested him in Chisinau the same month. + +The [[U.S. Department of Justice]] announced his extradition from Moldova in May 2025. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 and was sentenced by Judge Carol Bagley Amon to 15 years in federal prison in May 2026, with the DOJ describing the case as part of a broader prosecution of transnational online networks that solicit real-world political violence.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Georgian National Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Soliciting Hate Crimes and Planning Mass Casualty Attack." May 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/georgian-national-sentenced-15-years-prison-soliciting-hate-crimes-and-planning-mass; U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Georgian National Extradited from Moldova to Face Charges of Soliciting Hate Crimes and Planning Mass Casualty Attack." May 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/georgian-national-extradited-moldova-face-charges-soliciting-hate-crimes-and-planning-mass +[^2]: ADL. "Antioch, Tenn. Shooter Inspired by Broad Extremist Beliefs and Previous Mass Killers." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/antioch-tenn-shooter-inspired-broad-extremist-beliefs-and-previous-mass-killers diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nicholas Giampa.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nicholas Giampa.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7cf6c598 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nicholas Giampa.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Murder + - Virginia + - USA +born: 2000 +location: "Lorton, Virginia" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Nicholas Giampa killed his girlfriend's parents in Reston, Virginia in December 2017 after they banned their relationship over his neo-Nazi activity, survived a self-inflicted head wound with brain damage, and died uncharged in the Fairfax County jail in 2024." +--- + +[[Nicholas Giampa]] was a 17-year-old resident of [[Lorton, Virginia]] (Fairfax County) who on December 22, 2017 shot and killed [[Scott Fricker]] and [[Buckley Kuhn-Fricker]], the parents of his girlfriend, at their home in [[Reston, Virginia]]. He then shot himself in the head. He survived but with severe brain damage. The murders occurred after the Fricker-Kuhn family had discovered Giampa's neo-Nazi social media activity and ordered their daughter to end the relationship. + +Giampa was never tried. He was found incompetent to stand trial in August 2018 due to his injuries, restored to competency in 2019, declared incompetent again in 2023, and died at the [[Fairfax County Adult Detention Center]] on the night of August 22-23, 2024, before a trial could take place. Foul play was not initially suspected. + +### AWD Connection and Background + +Giampa's connection to [[Atomwaffen Division]] was established through public social media activity rather than confirmed formal membership. Under the alias "Kevin Gallo," he maintained a Twitter account ([@doctorpepper35]) that documented extensive neo-Nazi beliefs including heavy sharing of AWD propaganda and explicit praise for the James Mason text *[[Siege]]*. He praised a Twitter user identified as @RyanAtomwaffen. [[HuffPost]] documented and identified the account. He is described in contemporary reporting as an AWD "follower" rather than a confirmed cell member. + +Earlier in 2017, Giampa had mowed a 40-foot swastika into a community athletic field in Lorton, Virginia. + +### Murders and Investigation + +The Fricker-Kuhn family had confronted their daughter about Giampa's neo-Nazi social media presence and had forbidden her from continuing the relationship. According to prosecutors, Giampa and the daughter had entered a suicide pact and had discussed "wounding her parents if they tried to intervene." + +On December 22, 2017, Giampa entered the family home at 2600 Black Fire Court in Reston during the early morning hours and shot both parents. He then shot himself in the head. He was found at the scene alongside the bodies. He survived but the gunshot wound caused severe brain damage that would permanently affect his cognitive functioning and became the central obstacle to his prosecution. + +### Legal Proceedings + +Giampa was indicted in 2019 in [[Fairfax County Circuit Court]] on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He was tried as an adult. In August 2018, a court found him incompetent to stand trial due to the effects of his brain injury. A 2019 ruling found him restored to competency and scheduled an adult trial. By 2023, competency proceedings again found him unable to stand trial. No trial ever took place. + +He was found unresponsive in his cell at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center at approximately 1:58 a.m. on August 22-23, 2024 and was pronounced dead. Initial investigation did not suspect foul play.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: HuffPost. "Neo-Nazi Teen Allegedly Killed Girlfriend's Parents After They Tried to Stop the Relationship." January 2018. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nicholas-giampa-neo-nazi-teenager-murder-girlfriends-parents-virginia_n_5a4d0797e4b0b0e5a7aa4780; NBC Washington. "Man Charged in 2017 Double Homicide Found Dead at Virginia Jail." August 2024. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/man-charged-in-2017-double-homicide-found-dead-at-virginia-jail/3700783/; PBS FRONTLINE. "Three Murder Suspects Linked to Atomwaffen: Where Their Cases Stand." https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/three-murder-suspects-linked-to-atomwaffen-where-their-cases-stand/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nikita Casap.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nikita Casap.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d365b4ed --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nikita Casap.md @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - O9A + - MisanthropicDivision + - Accelerationism + - NeoNazi + - Wisconsin + - USA + - FederalInvestigation + - Parricidal +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Nikita Casap is a Waukesha, Wisconsin man sentenced to two consecutive life terms in March 2026 for murdering his mother and stepfather in February 2025 to fund a planned assassination of President Trump, with the FBI documenting extensive Terrorgram radicalization and contacts with European co-conspirators." +born: 2007 +location: "Waukesha, Wisconsin" +--- + +[[Nikita Casap]] (born approximately 2007, [[Waukesha, Wisconsin]]) was a 17-year-old neo-Nazi who on approximately February 11, 2025 shot and killed his mother, [[Tatiana Casap]], and his stepfather, [[Donald Mayer]], at the family's home in Waukesha County. His stated purpose was to acquire the funds and means to assassinate President [[Donald Trump]] and trigger the accelerationist collapse of American society. He lived with the bodies for approximately two weeks before fleeing with stolen cash, jewelry, passports, his stepfather's firearm, the family dog, and the household Volkswagen Atlas. He was apprehended in [[Kansas]] and charged in Waukesha County. He pleaded guilty on January 8, 2026, and was sentenced on March 6, 2026, to two consecutive life terms without possibility of parole by [[Waukesha County Circuit Court]] Judge [[Ralph Ramirez]].[^1] + +### Murders and Flight + +Casap killed Tatiana Casap and Donald Mayer in their Waukesha home and then remained at the residence with the bodies for approximately two weeks, during which time he continued his online activity and assassination planning. Before departing he took approximately $14,000 in cash, jewelry, passports, Mayer's firearm, the family pet, and the family vehicle. + +Federal investigators, working from a search warrant affidavit filed March 18, 2025, documented that Casap had been communicating on [[Telegram]] with a contact using the username "Angel of Death" about the assassination plan and with a separate contact in Russia about plans to overthrow the U.S. government. A third contact, whose phone number was registered to Vodafone Ukraine and whose name transliterates from Cyrillic as "POMaH BiKTOBHH," had allegedly provided Casap with detailed instructions for concealing the bodies, evading law enforcement, and executing a post-assassination escape to Ukraine, where he planned to live in hiding for approximately a decade.[^2] + +He was intercepted by law enforcement and arrested in Kansas before he could leave the country. + +### Manifesto and Assassination Planning + +Casap left a three-page manifesto titled "Accelerate the Collapse" with an explicit accelerationist argument: that Trump's assassination would foment a political revolution and "save the white race" from what the document called "Jewish controlled politicians." The operative sentence, quoted in court documents and widely reported, was: "Do absolutely anything you can that will lead to the collapse of America or any country you live in. This is the only way we can save the White race." The manifesto also contained the phrase "HAIL HITLER HAIL THE WHITE RACE HAIL VICTORY" alongside imagery of Adolf Hitler.[^2] + +His assassination method evolved from an initial plan to mount an AK-47 on a commercially available drone to a revised plan involving dropping explosives from a drone above Trump. To fund the drone and explosives acquisition, Casap transferred approximately $8,700 in [[Bitcoin]] from his stepfather's account to individuals he believed were supplying the equipment. Those individuals were scammers; no actual drone or explosives were ever delivered.[^1][^3] + +### Online Network Affiliations + +Casap was active in at least five extremist Telegram channels at the time of his arrest. Documented affiliations included a [[Russia|Russian]]-language neo-Nazi chat that distributed instructions for building explosives and poison, and a channel run by or associated with [[Misanthropic Division]] that had more than 4,300 participants. He operated on these platforms under the aliases "accelerationist14" and "Awoken." + +His manifesto cited unnamed [[Terrorgram Collective]] publications, which federal investigators described as including instructions for building bombs and sabotaging critical infrastructure. He also explicitly cited the writings of [[Juraj Krajčík]], the Slovak neo-Nazi who killed two people at the [[Tepláreň]] LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava in October 2022 as a Terrorgram "saint." Court documents also documented an affiliation with the [[Order of Nine Angles]].[^2] + +### Terrorgram Attribution and DOJ Record + +In the factual basis for [[Dallas Humber]]'s August 8, 2025 guilty plea, DOJ described the Wisconsin murders as one of seven attacks attributed to Humber's guidance, referencing Casap as "N.C." and describing him as having "murdered two people in Wisconsin in furtherance of his plot to assassinate a federal official." The designation of Trump as a "federal official" in this framing reflects 18 U.S.C. § 1114 language used in the prosecution. This document constitutes the primary legal record in the public domain connecting Humber directly to Casap's radicalization pathway.[^4] + +### Arrest and Sentencing + +State charges in Waukesha County included two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, identity theft, theft, and two counts of hiding a corpse. Under the terms of his January 8, 2026 plea agreement, the non-homicide counts were dismissed in exchange for his guilty plea to both homicide charges. + +Judge Ralph Ramirez imposed two consecutive life terms with no parole eligibility at the March 6, 2026 sentencing, explicitly ruling out any future parole consideration. Casap was 18 at sentencing, having turned 18 after the murders but before the plea proceedings.[^1] + +### Federal Investigation Status + +As of May 2026, no federal indictment against Casap had been publicly announced. The FBI search warrant affidavit, cited in press reporting, stated that probable cause existed to believe he committed federal offenses including conspiracy to assassinate the president (18 U.S.C. § 1751) and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. The state life sentences reduced the legal urgency of federal prosecution, but the identities of his European co-conspirators, including the Russian-speaking contacts documented in the affidavit, remained publicly undisclosed as of May 2026. Investigative reporting as late as March 2026 described the assassination-plot network as still "shrouded in mystery."[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Spectrum News 1. "Nikita Casap gets life in prison with no parole for parents' murder and Trump assassination plot." March 6, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2026/03/06/nikita-casap-life-in-prison-trump-assassination-plot--sentencing; Washington Post. "Wisconsin man who killed his parents to fund Trump assassination attempt gets life in prison." March 5, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2026/03/05/wisconsin-deaths-trump-assassination-plot-casap/04cc7a2c-18e6-11f1-aef0-0aac8e8e94db_story.html +[^2]: ProPublica / PBS FRONTLINE. "White Supremacist Terrorgram Network Allegedly Inspired a Teen to Murder His Parents to Fund a Plot to Assassinate Trump." April 18, 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-assassionation-plot-nikita-casap-terrorgram-wisconsin-frontline +[^3]: Daily Caller. "Trump Assassination Plot That Took Two Innocent Lives Still Shrouded In Mystery." March 19, 2026. https://dailycaller.com/2026/03/19/trump-assassination-plot-that-took-two-innocent-lives-still-shrouded-in-mystery/; Spectrum News 1. "Nikita Casap pleads guilty to homicide." January 8, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2026/01/08/nikita-casap--plea-deal--trump-assassination-plot--murder +[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leader of Transnational Terrorist Group Pleads Guilty." August 8, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-transnational-terrorist-group-pleads-guilty-soliciting-hate-crimes-soliciting-murder diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..090e34bf --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - SonnenkriegDivision + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - Accelerationism + - London +location: "West London, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski was an 18-year-old from West London who was a Sonnenkrieg Division member sentenced in June 2019 to an 18-month Detention and Training Order at the Old Bailey for two counts of encouraging terrorism via Gab posts supporting Anders Breivik and calling for ethnic cleansing." +--- + +Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, 18, of West London, was a member of [[Sonnenkrieg Division]] (SKD), the British neo-Nazi accelerationist organisation proscribed in 2019. He was sentenced at the [[Old Bailey]] on 18 June 2019 by Judge [[Rebecca Poulet QC]] to an 18-month Detention and Training Order after pleading guilty to two counts of encouraging terrorism under section 1 of the [[Terrorism Act 2006]].[^1] + +### Offences + +Dunn-Koczorowski operated a personal Gab account under a pseudonym and shared administrative control of SKD's [[Gab]] page alongside co-defendant [[Michael Szewczuk]]. The Gab posts for which he was convicted included: + +Material expressing support for [[Anders Behring Breivik]], the Norwegian far-right extremist who killed 77 people in the 2011 [[Utoya]] attack and Oslo bombing. + +Content calling for the ethnic cleansing of Albanians. + +He pleaded guilty in December 2018 to the two encouraging terrorism counts; sentencing was deferred until June 2019. He did not face possession charges. + +### Sentencing Remarks + +Judge Rebecca Poulet QC described the content produced by both Dunn-Koczorowski and Szewczuk as "abhorrent as well as criminal by reason of their clear intention to encourage terrorist acts."[^2] The lighter sentence compared to Szewczuk reflected both the fewer counts and the lesser volume of material attributed to Dunn-Koczorowski. + +### Sonnenkrieg Division and O9A + +Sonnenkrieg Division was founded by [[Andrew Dymock]] following his departure from the [[System Resistance Network]] and incorporated [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) philosophy heavily into its ideology, distinguishing it from its National Action-successor predecessor. Dunn-Koczorowski and Szewczuk were the first SKD members to face prosecution; their sentences preceded SKD's formal proscription, which followed later in 2019. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Washington Post. "Two British teens just convicted for promoting far-right terrorism online." June 18, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/06/18/two-british-teens-just-convicted-promoting-far-right-terrorism-online/; IOL News. "Neo-Nazi teen who called Prince Harry a 'race traitor' jailed." June 19, 2019. https://iol.co.za/news/world/2019-06-19-neo-nazi-teen-who-called-prince-harry-a-race-traitor-jailed/ + +[^2]: HOPE not hate. "Jailed neo-Nazi Satanists were a legacy of National Action." June 18, 2019. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2019/06/18/jailed-neo-nazi-satanists-legacy-national-action/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Paul Dunleavy.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Paul Dunleavy.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9c675597 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Paul Dunleavy.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - FeuerkriegDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - UKTerrorism +born: 2003 +location: "Rugby, Warwickshire, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Paul Dunleavy was a 17-year-old from Rugby convicted in October 2020 at Birmingham Crown Court of preparing neo-Nazi acts of terrorism by distributing firearm-conversion manuals to Feuerkrieg Division members, including to the Lithuanian member who later planted a bomb in Vilnius." +--- + +Paul Dunleavy, 17, of [[Rugby]], Warwickshire, was convicted on 6 October 2020 by a jury at [[Birmingham Crown Court]] of preparing acts of terrorism between April and September 2019, making him one of the youngest people convicted of terrorism-related offences in the United Kingdom. He was sentenced to five years and six months' detention by Judge [[Paul Farrer QC]], with a concurrent two years for possessing terrorist documents.[^1] + +### Activity and FKD Membership + +Dunleavy joined [[Feuerkrieg Division]] while 14 years old and became an active participant in its encrypted online networks. His primary criminal activity was the distribution of detailed firearm-conversion manuals and the provision of operational advice on building functional firearms from legally purchased components to other FKD members. The judge described his advice and encouragement to fellow members as "significant."[^2] + +The trial revealed that three FKD members to whom Dunleavy had provided assistance were subsequently convicted of terrorist offences in Germany, Lithuania, and the United States. The Lithuanian connection is documented in other sources as relating to [[Gediminas Beržinskas]], who placed a homemade explosive device outside a [[Western Union]] office in [[Vilnius]] in October 2019 and was convicted by [[Vilnius Regional Court]] in September 2020. Dunleavy's provision of bomb-making guidance and firearm-conversion advice to Beržinskas and others established his culpability for the broader conspiracy.[^2] + +### Arrest and Conviction + +Dunleavy was first identified through investigative intelligence and was arrested by counter-terrorism investigators in connection with the FKD network. His trial at Birmingham Crown Court was a jury trial rather than a guilty-plea proceeding, distinguishing it from most other UK FKD cases. He was unanimously convicted. The court heard evidence about his extensive collection of ideological texts, his participation in FKD's encrypted communications, and the cross-national impact of the firearms guidance he had distributed.[^1] + +At sentencing, Judge Farrer noted Dunleavy's autism as a factor but said it did not diminish the seriousness of his offences or the real-world danger he created. The judge's characterization of autism as having contributed to an "obsessional interest in firearms" was noted in press coverage and is factually contested by disability researchers.[^1] + +### Transnational Causal Chain + +Dunleavy's case is the most clearly documented instance of transnational criminal causation within the FKD network: a UK teenager advising a Lithuanian member whose subsequent bombing constituted one of the first FKD-linked acts of political violence in Europe. The 2021 sentencing by a UK court of a British teenager for providing advice to a Lithuanian terrorist who had already been convicted in Lithuania also represented an early example of parallel prosecution across European jurisdictions in FKD cases.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Express and Star. "Boy, 17, sentenced to detention for preparing neo-Nazi acts of terrorism." November 6, 2020. https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/11/06/boy-17-sentenced-to-detention-for-preparing-neo-nazi-acts-of-terrorism/; Anadolu Agency. "UK sentences youngest far-right terrorist." https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/uk-sentences-youngest-far-right-terrorist/2137742 +[^2]: Far-Right Criminals. "Rugby teenager Paul Dunleavy jailed for terror offences." November 6, 2020. https://far-rightcriminals.com/2020/11/06/rugby-teenager-paul-dunleavy-jailed-for-terror-offences/; Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Teenager from Rugby linked to neo-Nazi groups jailed for terror offences." https://antisemitism.org/teenager-from-rugby-linked-to-neo-nazi-groups-jailed-for-terror-offences +[^3]: LRT. "Britain sentences teenager who 'advised' Lithuanian neo-Nazi terrorist." 2021. https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1274096/britain-sentences-teenager-who-advised-lithuanian-neo-nazi-terrorist diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Pavol Beňadik.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Pavol Beňadik.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e6e05750 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Pavol Beňadik.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Slovakia + - TerroristConviction +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Pavol Beňadik, alias 'Slovakbro,' was the Slovak co-founder of the Terrorgram Collective who mentored Juraj Krajčík before the 2022 Bratislava LGBTQ+ bar shooting and was sentenced to six years in a Slovak prison for inciting terrorism." +born: 1999 +location: "Slovakia" +--- + +[[Pavol Beňadik]], operating online under the alias "Slovakbro," is a [[Slovakia|Slovak]] national who co-founded the [[Terrorgram Collective]] in the summer of 2019 alongside Canadian co-founder [[Matthew Althorpe]]. He built the initial infrastructure of what became one of the most consequential accelerationist neo-Nazi networks in the world, created at least five neo-Nazi [[Telegram]] channels and two group chats, and directly mentored [[Juraj Krajčík]] - the perpetrator of the October 2022 Bratislava [[LGBTQ+]] bar shooting - from age 16. Beňadik was arrested by Slovak authorities in May 2022 and subsequently sentenced to six years in prison for inciting the overthrow of the democratic system and acts of terrorism, the first major prosecution of a Terrorgram figure.[^1] + +### Founding of Terrorgram + +Beňadik began creating neo-Nazi Telegram content in the immediate aftermath of the [[Brenton Tarrant]] Christchurch attacks of March 2019, when the accelerationist community had been partially displaced from [[Iron March]]-successor spaces by deplatforming. At approximately 19 to 20 years of age, he launched channels that drew the growing post-Christchurch accelerationist Telegram ecosystem into a more coherent network. His initial work attracted Althorpe, who had been operating as an [[Atomwaffen Division]] propagandist, and together they formalized the Terrorgram Collective as an inner circle committed to producing professional-quality propaganda. + +Beňadik's channels posted bomb-making instructions, accelerationist ideological content, and the Saints Culture graphics that became Terrorgram's most recognizable output - trading-card-style tributes to far-right mass shooters framed as models for emulation.[^2] + +### Mentorship of Juraj Krajčík + +Beňadik's most consequential documented activity was his sustained personal mentorship of [[Juraj Krajčík]] of Slovakia, who had entered Terrorgram's channels in August 2019 at age approximately 16. Over the following three years, Beňadik mentored Krajčík through the network's radicalization pathway, calling explicitly for the creation of "saints" from Slovakia. Krajčík cited Beňadik by his alias in the manifesto he left before carrying out the October 12, 2022 attack at [[Tepláreň]], an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava, in which two people were killed and one wounded. + +The Bratislava attack was identified by Terrorgram community members and researchers as the first "saint" event produced by the network's mentorship activities. Beňadik had been arrested by Slovak authorities in May 2022, five months before the attack, but Krajčík completed the act anyway based on the years of prior mentorship.[^1][^3] + +### Arrest and Conviction + +Slovak authorities arrested Beňadik in May 2022 as part of an investigation into his Telegram activities. He faced more than 200 terrorism-related charges under Slovak law. He was convicted and sentenced to six years in a Slovak prison for inciting the overthrow of the democratic constitutional system and for acts of terrorism. The conviction made him the first Terrorgram Collective figure to be imprisoned and established that at least one jurisdiction was prepared to treat the network's online activities as actionable terrorism offenses. + +His arrest preceded by more than two years the U.S. arrests of [[Dallas Humber]] and [[Matthew Robert Allison]] in September 2024, and the Canadian arrest of Althorpe in December 2023. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Canadian Anti-Hate Network. "Terrorgram, a Neo-Nazi Collective, at the Heart of International Arrests." https://www.antihate.ca/terrorgram_neo_nazi_collective_heart_international_arrests +[^2]: ProPublica / PBS FRONTLINE. "The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram." 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/rise-and-fall-terrorgram-inside-global-online-hate-network-frontline-telegram +[^3]: RSIS. "Bratislava Shooting: The Making of Terrorgram's First Saint." https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/rsis/bratislava-shooting-the-making-of-terrorgrams-first-saint/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Payton Gendron.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Payton Gendron.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..66b0afb3 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Payton Gendron.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SaintsCulture + - GreatReplacementTheory + - NewYork + - USA + - MassShooter + - TerrorgramCollective +born: 2003-05-27 +location: "Conklin, New York" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Payton Gendron killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket in May 2022, livestreaming the attack and leaving a manifesto modeled on Brenton Tarrant's, sentenced to consecutive life terms and cited as inspiration by subsequent accelerationist attackers." +--- + +[[Payton Gendron]] (born May 27, 2003, [[Conklin, New York]]) attacked the [[Tops Friendly Markets|Tops supermarket]] on Jefferson Avenue in the predominantly Black East Side neighborhood of [[Buffalo, New York]] on May 14, 2022, killing 10 people and wounding 3. All 10 victims were Black; Gendron had driven approximately 200 miles from his home in Conklin specifically targeting Buffalo's East Side because of its demographics. He live-streamed the attack through a helmet-mounted camera on Twitch. He left a 180-page manifesto explicitly framed as continuing [[Brenton Tarrant]]'s 2019 [[2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings|Christchurch]] attack, adopting Tarrant's format and ideological argument. Gendron pleaded guilty to all counts in November 2022 and was sentenced to life without parole in state court in February 2023, with federal hate crime convictions adding additional consecutive life terms. [[Juraj Krajčík]] named Gendron as his "final nudge" before the October 2022 Bratislava LGBTQ+ bar attack; [[Nikita Casap]] also cited Gendron as an influence before his February 2025 Wisconsin killings.[^1] + +### The Buffalo Supermarket Attack + +Gendron drove from Conklin to Buffalo on May 14, 2022, arriving at the Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue at approximately 2:30 PM. He wore tactical gear and a camera, opened fire in the parking lot, and then entered the store. He killed a retired police officer employed as a security guard, [[Aaron Salter Jr.]], who fired at Gendron but was unable to penetrate his body armor. Of the 13 people shot, 10 died. Gendron then surrendered to police at the scene. + +The Twitch stream was active for approximately 2 minutes before the platform removed it. The footage was subsequently redistributed widely through Telegram and other platforms, following the same pattern established after Christchurch. + +The 10 victims were: [[Aaron Salter Jr.]], [[Roberta Drury]], [[Margus Morrison]], [[Andre Mackniel]], [[Katherine Massey]], [[Heyward Patterson]], [[Celestine Chaney]], [[Geraldine Talley]], [[Ruth Whitfield]], and [[Pearl Young]].[^2] + +### Manifesto and Radicalization + +Gendron's manifesto was structured as an explicit homage to Tarrant's "The Great Replacement," borrowing Tarrant's format of a question-and-answer self-interview alongside strategic and operational arguments. It adopted "great replacement" ideology, citing the same French conspiracy theory framework. Gendron had radicalized primarily through 4chan's /pol/ board and had been consuming accelerationist content from an early age, with no documented connection to a specific organized network prior to the attack. + +His manifesto included specific targeting research (why Buffalo, why this supermarket), tactical guidance, and an explicit framing of the attack as a contribution to an ongoing acceleration campaign. The document's detailed radicalization self-history became a significant data point for researchers studying online radicalization pathways independent of organizational membership. + +### Conviction and Sentencing + +Gendron was arrested immediately after the attack without resistance. He was charged in state court with ten counts of first-degree murder as a hate crime and related charges. He pleaded guilty in November 2022. In February 2023, Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan sentenced him to life in prison without possibility of parole on each count, to run consecutively. + +Federal prosecutors separately charged Gendron with hate crimes, obstruction of religion, and use of a firearm in a hate crime. He pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2023 and received additional life sentences from U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford.[^1] + +His documented role in the inspiration chain confirmed by court evidence includes Krajčík's naming him in the Bratislava manifesto and Casap's references in the "Accelerate the Collapse" document before his parents' murders. The [[Terrorgram Collective]]'s channels circulated Gendron saint cards in the same format as Tarrant materials.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice. "Payton Gendron Sentenced to Multiple Life Terms in Federal Hate Crime Case." 2023. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/payton-gendron-sentenced-multiple-life-terms-federal-hate-crime-case +[^2]: Buffalo News. "Payton Gendron pleads guilty to all charges in Buffalo mass shooting." November 2022. +[^3]: ProPublica. "Telegram, Terrorgram Collective, Bratislava Murders." https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ryan Fleming.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ryan Fleming.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..48ff3ed8 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ryan Fleming.md @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NationalAction + - O9A + - NeoNazi + - UK + - DrakonCovenant + - Yorkshire + - SexualAbuse +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Ryan Fleming was a regional organiser for National Action's Yorkshire branch and an O9A nexion leader who ran the Drakon Covenant cell, publishing occultist texts under the pseudonym A.A. Morain while accumulating convictions for child sexual abuse spanning 2012 to 2021." +--- + +Ryan Fleming, of Horsforth, Leeds, was a regional organiser for [[National Action]]'s Yorkshire branch and a leader of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) nexion known as the [[Drakon Covenant]], which operated out of Yorkshire. He is the principal documented conduit through which O9A ideology entered National Action's internal culture during the period 2015 to 2017. + +### National Action Role and O9A Integration + +Fleming is described in contemporaneous anti-fascist and journalistic reporting as a regional organiser who worked to push National Action toward [[Left-Hand Path]] occultism, specifically the O9A's [[Seven Fold Way]] framework. Police searches of National Action members' homes during the prosecution of the organisation's post-proscription membership uncovered materials bearing O9A symbols, which investigators and journalists attributed to Fleming's influence within the group.[^1] + +Fleming was an active poster on the [[Iron March]] neo-fascist web forum, where he promoted O9A doctrine and recruited for the Drakon Covenant. His Iron March presence connected the Yorkshire nexion to other O9A-affiliated formations internationally, and the Drakon Covenant maintained documented contact with the American nexion [[Tempel ov Blood]] (ToB). The foreword to one of Fleming's published books, *Codex Aristarchus*, was written by "Czar Azag-kala" of Tempel ov Blood, demonstrating a direct editorial relationship between the Yorkshire and American O9A formations.[^2] Fleming's Iron March account is corroborated by the database leak of November 2019. Whether Counter Terrorism Command's post-leak National Action investigation, which identified [[Benjamin Hannam]] via the "Anglisc" account in February 2020, also cross-referenced Fleming's Iron March activity is not confirmed in any public source. + +### Drakon Covenant and Published Works + +Fleming operated the Drakon Covenant under the pseudonym "A.A. Morain." Under that name he wrote and published at least two documented texts within the O9A publishing ecosystem: *Scithain: Vampyric Witchcraft of the Drakon Covenant* and *Codex Aristarchus*. Both works position themselves within O9A's broader doctrinal corpus on the acausal realm and transgressive spiritual practice. + +The journalist Jake Hanrahan confirmed the Fleming-Morain identification and the Drakon Covenant's Yorkshire base in February 2021 reporting.[^3] The nexion's international connections were documented in [[HOPE not hate]]'s "Order of Nine Angles: An Incubator of Terrorism" chapter in *State of Hate 2020*.[^1] + +### Criminal Convictions + +Fleming's criminal record for child sexual abuse pre-dates his period of peak influence within National Action and continued through 2021. + +In 2012, Fleming was convicted of falsely imprisoning, torturing, and sexually abusing a young boy. He was sentenced to 26 months' imprisonment. The conviction established a sexual harm prevention order restricting his contact with children.[^4] + +In 2017, Fleming was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl he met online through Facebook, and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. HOPE not hate reported this conviction at the time.[^5] + +In February 2021, Fleming was sentenced to a further six months in prison after police found him messaging young teenagers online in violation of the sexual harm prevention order that had been in place since his earlier convictions. Counter Terrorism Policing detected the breach in December 2020 via Instagram. The conviction was reported by BBC journalist Daniel De Simone, who confirmed Fleming's concurrent O9A membership at the time of the 2021 breach.[^6] + +As of mid-2026, no terrorism charges have been brought against Fleming in connection with his National Action organising or O9A nexion leadership. His criminal record consists entirely of the child sexual abuse counts. No parliamentary question specifically naming Fleming in connection with counter-terrorism non-prosecution has been located in Hansard, and no published CPS decision on the question has been found.[^7] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: HOPE not hate. "Order of Nine Angles: An Incubator of Terrorism." *State of Hate 2020*. https://hopenothate.org.uk/chapter/order-of-nine-angles-an-incubator-of-terrorism/ + +[^2]: Middlebury Institute CTEC. "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: National Action." https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-5 + +[^3]: Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan). "Fleming runs a Yorkshire based cell (or nexion as they call it) of the O9A. It's called the Drakon Covenant." 11 February 2021. https://x.com/Jake_Hanrahan/status/1360317804600324096 + +[^4]: Far-Right Criminals. "Ryan Fleming: Neo-Nazi paedophile jailed for messaging children." February 2021. https://far-rightcriminals.com/2021/02/13/ryan-fleming-neo-nazi-paedophile-jailed-for-messaging-children/ + +[^5]: HOPE not hate. "Jailed! National Action paedophile behind bars." 29 July 2017. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2017/07/29/jailed-national-action-paedophile-behind-bars/ + +[^6]: Daniel De Simone (@DdesimoneDaniel). Twitter, 11 February 2021. https://x.com/DdesimoneDaniel/status/1360244058636120064 + +[^7]: Red Rose UK News. "Ryan Fleming from Leeds jailed for contact with children after neo-Nazi group involvement." https://madebyredrose.co.uk/abuser/ryan-fleming-1; HOPE not hate. "Jailed! National Action paedophile behind bars." 29 July 2017. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2017/07/29/jailed-national-action-paedophile-behind-bars/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Sarah Beth Clendaniel.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Sarah Beth Clendaniel.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b834b73b --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Sarah Beth Clendaniel.md @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - FederalCase + - InfrastructureAttack + - Maryland + - USA + - TerroristConviction +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Sarah Beth Clendaniel is a Cecil County, Maryland-born neo-Nazi who conspired with Atomwaffen Division founder Brandon Russell to destroy five BGE substations, having developed white nationalist beliefs independently since 2001 before meeting Russell through prison correspondence in 2018." +born: 1987 +location: "Catonsville, Maryland" +--- + +[[Sarah Beth Clendaniel]] (born approximately 1987, [[Cecil County, Maryland]]) conspired with [[Atomwaffen Division]] founder [[Brandon Russell]] to destroy multiple electrical power substations operated by [[Baltimore Gas and Electric]] (BGE) in a coordinated attack intended to trigger a cascading city-wide power failure. The plot followed the accelerationist strategic logic at the center of AWD's founding ideology: that destroying infrastructure could function as a catalyst for the societal breakdown and race war that Clendaniel and Russell believed would ultimately produce a white nationalist state. She pleaded guilty on May 14, 2024, and was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison on September 24, 2024.[^6] + +### Cecil County Origins and Pre-2018 Criminal History + +Clendaniel grew up in rural Cecil County, a heavily white, conservative area bordering [[Delaware]] and [[Pennsylvania]] in Maryland's northeastern corner. She later stated that she had held Nazi beliefs since 2001. + +Her first documented felony arrest occurred in 2006 in Cecil County, when she was charged with armed robbery at a convenience store (she wielded a large butcher knife) and several other offenses. That 2006 case resulted in a plea in [[Cecil County Circuit Court]] and a five-year prison sentence, though the sentencing did not occur until April 2015 when she received one year of jail time for the 2006 robbery under a deferred resolution structure.[^1] + +In March 2016, Clendaniel committed three armed robberies of convenience stores within a four-day period, all in Cecil County: the Pantry 1 Mart near [[Rising Sun, Maryland|Rising Sun]] on March 21, the High's Dairy Store at 3155 Joseph Biggs Memorial Highway in [[Bay View, Maryland|Bay View]] on March 22, and the same Pantry 1 Mart again on March 25. She brandished a machete during each robbery and demanded cash and cigarettes. Maryland State Police arrested her in the act of robbing the High's Dairy Store in Bay View on March 29, 2016. She pleaded guilty in Cecil County Circuit Court to three counts of robbery and received a nine-year sentence in June 2016.[^1] + +### Prison-Period Correspondence with Russell + +Clendaniel began exchanging letters with Russell in approximately 2018 while both were serving federal and state sentences in different facilities. The [[FBI]] was aware of the correspondence at least from 2018; investigative files cited the relationship in the Russell case as evidence of a pre-existing connection that preceded any FBI informant involvement in the later conspiracy.[^2] + +During this period Clendaniel is also reported to have been in contact with the [[White Prison Newsletter]], the neo-Nazi accelerationist prison publication that Russell co-organized from his [[Federal Correctional Institution]] placement. The newsletter was also endorsed by [[Robert Gregory Bowers]], the [[2018 Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting|Pittsburgh synagogue shooting]] perpetrator.[^3] + +### Release (2020) and Post-Prison Radicalization + +Clendaniel was released from custody in approximately 2020 after serving several years of her nine-year 2016 sentence. Court records filed in connection with her 2024 plea state that after release she "fell back into familiar patterns of addiction and embraced increasingly radical views." Her post-prison ideology expanded beyond the general white nationalist beliefs she had held since 2001 into the [[Accelerationism|accelerationist]] framework Russell had developed through AWD, specifically the theory that targeted infrastructure destruction could precipitate systemic collapse and race war.[^4] + +After her own release, Clendaniel moved to [[Catonsville, Maryland]], in [[Baltimore County]], where she was living at the time of her 2023 arrest. + +### The Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy + +Clendaniel and Russell's plan called for the simultaneous physical destruction of five BGE transformer substations in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Their operational theory held that striking multiple substations at the same time would prevent grid operators from rerouting power, producing a city-wide blackout. Clendaniel served as the operational executor of the conspiracy's Maryland component: while Russell, then living in [[Orlando, Florida]], provided the ideological framework and sought to procure weapons through the [[FBI informant]] [[Christopher Jackson (Baltimore CHS)|Christopher Jackson]], Clendaniel conducted physical reconnaissance of the targeted substations and identified five sites to be struck simultaneously, selecting locations near [[Norrisville, Maryland|Norrisville]], [[Reisterstown, Maryland|Reisterstown]], and [[Perry Hall, Maryland|Perry Hall]], plus two additional substations near Baltimore City proper. + +In a recorded telephone conversation with Jackson on January 29, 2023, Clendaniel stated: "it would permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully." She described a "ring" of substations surrounding Baltimore and argued that hitting multiple facilities simultaneously would prevent BGE grid operators from rerouting power, producing a city-wide blackout. The attack was explicitly framed as targeting a majority-Black city as a precondition for racial conflict.[^5] + +Clendaniel possessed firearms that she had acquired for the plot despite her status as a convicted felon, making firearm possession independently illegal. The [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]] (ATF) documented the firearms as part of the investigation. + +The pair communicated the plan through encrypted channels; the case was prosecuted in the [[District of Maryland]] under Senior U.S. District Judge [[James K. Bredar]]. Federal investigators disrupted the conspiracy before any attack was carried out. + +[[Dallas Humber]], who led the [[Terrorgram Collective]] inner circle during the same period, was separately alleged in court documents to have remained in contact with Clendaniel and Russell, though Humber was not charged as a co-conspirator specifically in the substation plot. + +### Charges and Plea + +Clendaniel was arrested February 3, 2023. A federal grand jury returned an indictment in the District of Maryland, case number 1:23-cr-00056, before Senior U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar, charging her with one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility (18 U.S.C. § 1366(b)) and one count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)).[^6] + +Clendaniel pleaded guilty on May 14, 2024, in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, admitting to both counts. + +### Sentencing: September 24, 2024 + +Bredar sentenced Clendaniel to 18 years in federal prison on September 24, 2024, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. The government recommended the 18-year term; Bredar accepted it. The judge stated he "wanted to believe" she would not have carried through on the plot but concluded he was "not convinced she wouldn't act on them in the future" given the "extreme" nature of the planned attacks. Bredar found the crime was "a means of furthering her violent white supremacist ideology" and declined to credit claims that her participation had been primarily passive. + +Clendaniel received a shorter sentence than Russell (18 years vs. 20 years) based on Bredar's later analysis at Russell's sentencing that Russell had supplied the "intellectual horsepower" and was the more culpable party.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Cecil Daily. "Woman charged in neo-Nazi plot has criminal record in Cecil County." February 2023. https://www.cecildaily.com/news/woman-charged-in-neo-nazi-plot-has-criminal-record-in-cecil-county/article_b079a3b8-c164-5fd2-8562-2b2d092d690f.html + +[^2]: The Baltimore Banner. "How neo-Nazi leader Brandon Russell came to be accused of targeting Baltimore substations." 2023. https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/brandon-russell-neo-nazi-sarah-clendaniel-power-substation-CH6ZNB2FVVDYREOUJEMGTODDCM/ + +[^3]: Vice. "Inside the Neo-Nazi Prison Magazine Radicalizing Americans in Their Cells." https://www.vice.com/en/article/white-power-newsletter-neo-nazi-accelerationism-behind-bars/ + +[^4]: CBS Baltimore. "Woman sentenced to 18 years in white supremacist plot to destroy Maryland's power grid." September 24, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/woman-sentenced-maryland-neo-nazi-plot-destory-maryland-power-grid/; WJLA. "Woman sentenced to 18 years for plot with neo-Nazi leader to attack Baltimore's power grid." September 2024. https://wjla.com/news/local/baltimore-woman-neo-nazi-power-grid-attack-destroy-radical-racist-sarah-clendaniel-trauma-guilty-plea-sentencing-california-health-felon-relationship-facilities + +[^5]: ABC News. "Suspected white supremacists arrested in plot to attack power stations, destroy Baltimore." February 6, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspects-arrested-plot-attack-power-stations-destroy-baltimore/story?id=96923380; Nottingham MD. "Baltimore County woman pleads guilty to conspiring to destroy local power grid, Perry Hall substation." May 14, 2024. https://nottinghammd.com/2024/05/14/baltimore-county-woman-pleads-guilty-to-conspiring-to-destroy-local-power-grid-perry-hall-substation/ + +[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Md. "Federal Indictment Returned Charging Maryland Woman and Florida Man for Conspiring to Destroy Energy Facilities." February 14, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/federal-indictment-returned-charging-maryland-woman-and-florida-man-conspiring-destroy; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-Maryland. "White Supremacist Leader Found Guilty of Conspiring to Destroy Regional Power Grid." https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/white-supremacist-leader-found-guilty-conspiring-destroy-regional-power-grid diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Travis Frey.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Travis Frey.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fdd6a084 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Travis Frey.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - IronMarch + - NeoNazi + - ICE + - CoreCivic + - PrivatePrisons + - Nevada + - USA +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Travis Frey was an ICE detention center captain at a CoreCivic facility in Nevada who was identified through the 2019 Iron March database leak as an active neo-Nazi forum user who had described himself as a fascist and sought to organize for the Traditionalist Workers Party." +born: 1989 +location: "Nevada / Indianapolis" +--- + +[[Travis Frey]], identified through the 2019 [[Iron March]] database leak, was employed as a captain at the [[Nevada Southern Detention Center]], a facility operated by private prison company [[CoreCivic]] under contract with [[Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] (ICE), at the time of his public identification in January 2020. + +### Iron March Activity + +Frey registered on Iron March in 2013 under the username "In Hoc Signo Vinces," a Latin phrase used by various military and academic institutions. He posted at least a dozen times between 2016 and 2017. During that period he was employed as head of security at a CoreCivic jail in Indianapolis, Indiana, one of several positions he held within the CoreCivic private detention network. Forum posts showed Frey describing himself as a "fascist" and expressing interest in organizing for the [[Traditionalist Workers Party]] (TWP) in Indiana. In June 2017, he made direct overtures toward joining TWP, then led by [[Matthew Heimbach]].[^1] + +### Identification + +[[Vice News]] identified Frey in January 2020 by cross-referencing the Iron March database's registration email address, phone number, birthday, and self-disclosed place of residence against open-source records. By the time of publication, Frey had been promoted to captain at the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada, which holds individuals detained pending immigration proceedings. + +Vice reporters found that Frey, who was 31 at the time, had moved from Indianapolis to Nevada after his time at the Indianapolis CoreCivic facility. The Nevada Southern Detention Center is one of the largest ICE detention facilities in the western United States.[^1] + +### Institutional Response + +CoreCivic confirmed Frey's placement on administrative leave pending a review of the reported information. U.S. Senators representing Nevada called for a federal investigation into the Nevada Southern Detention Center following the Vice report. Immigration attorneys who represented detainees at the facility described the situation as reflecting systemic problems with oversight of private detention contractors.[^2] + +No criminal charges were filed against Frey. No public record establishes whether CoreCivic dismissed him, reinstated him, or transferred him. ICE declined to confirm whether it requested any specific review of the facility's personnel in connection with the reporting. + +### Screening Gap + +The Frey case illustrated a gap in the background screening processes of private prison contractors operating under federal immigration enforcement contracts. The Iron March database enabled the identification, but Frey's Iron March posts had been publicly accessible in principle from 2016 to 2017 before the forum's closure and might have been surfaced through earlier monitoring. The [[Nevada Independent]] and [[KUNR Public Radio]] provided additional regional coverage of the political response to the identification. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Vice. "ICE Detention Center Captain Was on a Neo-Nazi Website and Wanted to Start a White Nationalist Group." January 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/ice-detention-center-captain-was-on-a-neo-nazi-website-and-wanted-to-start-a-white-nationalist-group/; Iron March Dossiers. "Travis Frey: CoreCivic Chief of Security and Iron March Fascist in Nevada." January 5, 2020. https://ironmarch.noblogs.org/post/2020/01/05/travis-frey-corecivic-chief-of-security-and-iron-march-fascist/ +[^2]: Vice. "ICE Detention Center Captain With Neo-Nazi Ties Was Just Placed on Leave." January 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/ice-detention-center-captain-with-neo-nazi-ties-was-just-placed-on-leave/; Nevada Current. "ICE facility captain's neo-Nazi links reflect systemic racism, immigration lawyers say." January 8, 2020. https://nevadacurrent.com/2020/01/08/ice-facility-captains-neo-nazi-links-reflect-systemic-racism-immigration-lawyers-say/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Zachary Dosch.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Zachary Dosch.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f8e1f320 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Zachary Dosch.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - GreggyCult + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - FederalCase + - NewMexico + - USA +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Zachary Dosch, alias 'Moist Nigerian,' was an Albuquerque, New Mexico leader of Greggy's Cult who pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges and faced further indictment in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York alongside four co-defendants." +born: 1999 +location: "Albuquerque, New Mexico" +--- + +[[Zachary Dosch]], alias "Moist Nigerian," is a resident of [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1999 and was 26 at the time of his December 2025 indictment. + +### Prior Conviction + +Dosch pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges arising from related conduct. His sentencing on those charges had not yet occurred as of December 2025, when the new Greggy's Cult indictment was returned.[^1] + +### Greggy's Cult Methods + +Greggy's Cult directed minor victims to engage in sexually explicit and degrading conduct on video calls hosted on Discord or other video conferencing platforms. The group also engaged in coordinated extortion of both minor and adult victims, including schemes to frame adult victims as pedophiles and to send malware to minor victims' computers, using the resulting leverage to compel ongoing compliance with degrading acts on camera. Encouragement of victims to commit suicide and to insert household objects into their genitals was documented in DOJ filings.[^2] + +### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361) + +A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Dosch alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], [[David Brilhante]], and [[Camden Rodriguez]]. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2] + +No outcome had been publicly reported on Dosch's 2022 guilty plea sentencing or the new indictment as of May 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others for alleged roles in 'monstrous' online extortion group." December 2025. https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704 +[^2]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Alexander Lightner.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Alexander Lightner.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..00898c4f --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Alexander Lightner.md @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - FederalCase + - Florida + - USA + - TerroristConviction +summary: "Alexander Lightner is a Venice, Florida Terrorgram Collective member who threatened a mass casualty event in a private Terrorgram chat in December 2023, was arrested by the FBI in January 2024, and was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a self-made firearm silencer." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 1997 +location: "Venice, Florida" +--- + +[[Alexander Lightner]] (born approximately 1997, [[Venice, Florida]]) was a member of the [[Terrorgram Collective]] who on December 29, 2023, made several threatening posts in an exclusive Terrorgram chat conveying his intent to commit violent acts motivated by far-right extremist ideology, including the phrases "2024 there shall be saints" and "Highscore shall be defeated" (a reference to surpassing the casualty count of previous far-right mass shooters). He was arrested by the [[FBI]] in January 2024, charged initially with interstate transmission of a threat to injure and unlawful possession of a silencer, and sentenced to 51 months (4 years, 3 months) in federal prison on June 12, 2025, by the [[Middle District of Florida]] after pleading guilty on March 11, 2025, to the firearm count.[^1] + +### Arrest and Evidence + +Federal agents executed a search warrant at Lightner's Venice residence within approximately a week of the December 2023 posts. The search recovered a self-made firearm silencer, several firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, a copy of Mein Kampf, and extremist literature with detailed descriptions of mass shooting events praising historical white supremacist killers. When interviewed by law enforcement, Lightner admitted the silencer was his and that he had manufactured it himself. He also admitted to making the threatening Telegram posts. + +The original indictment, filed January 2024 in the Middle District of Florida with a terrorism enhancement applied, charged Lightner with two counts: interstate transmission of a threat to injure (the threatening Terrorgram messages) and unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm (the silencer). The threat charge carried up to five years and the silencer charge up to ten, for a combined original maximum of fifteen years. + +### Plea and Sentencing + +Lightner pleaded guilty on March 11, 2025, to the unregistered firearm count only. The threat-related charge was resolved through the plea agreement. The [[Middle District of Florida]] DOJ press release characterizing him as a Terrorgram Collective member at sentencing was among the first federal filings to publicly attach the Terrorgram label to the Florida case. + +On June 12, 2025, Lightner, then 27, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison. The sentence reflected his membership in the Terrorgram network and his possession of materials indicating operational intent (the silencer, ammunition, and extremist attack literature), even though the prosecution proceeded only on the firearm count.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-MDFL. "Venice Man Charged With Threatening To Commit A Mass Casualty Event And Unlawful Possession Of A Silencer." January 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/venice-man-charged-threatening-commit-mass-casualty-event-and-unlawful-possession; CNN. "FBI arrests Florida man accused of threatening 'mass casualty event.'" January 10, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/10/us/fbi-florida-man-threatening-mass-casualty-event/index.html +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-MDFL. "Terrorgram Member Sentenced To 51 Months In Prison For Possessing An Unregistered Firearm." June 12, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/terrorgram-member-sentenced-51-months-prison-possessing-unregistered-firearm; WGCU. "Venice-based Terrorgram member sentenced to 51 months in prison." June 12, 2025. https://www.wgcu.org/section/crime/2025-06-12/venice-based-terrorgram-member-sentenced-to-51-months-in-prison diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Alisher Mukhitdinov.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Alisher Mukhitdinov.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e28b209f --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Alisher Mukhitdinov.md @@ -0,0 +1,82 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - IronMarch + - NeoNazi + - Russia + - Accelerationism + - NetworkFounder + - Pseudonym +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Alisher Mukhitdinov, operating under the alias 'Alexander Slavros,' founded and administered Iron March from 2011 to 2017; his identification rests on a WHOIS record linking his personal site to a Moscow address, corroborated by BBC Russia's physical investigation in January 2020." +born: "~1989" +location: "Moscow, Russia" +--- + +Alisher Mukhitdinov, operating under the online alias "Alexander Slavros," is a [[Russia|Russian]] national of Uzbek family background who founded and administered [[Iron March]], the neo-fascist web forum that ran from 2011 to 2017 and served as the primary international incubator for neo-Nazi and neo-fascist organizations including [[Atomwaffen Division]]. His identification as Slavros rests on converging evidence traced to the WHOIS registration of his personal website and confirmed by a physical investigation conducted by [[BBC News Russian]] in January 2020. He has not been prosecuted in any jurisdiction. + +### The Identification Chain + +The identification of Mukhitdinov as "Alexander Slavros" developed in three documented stages across roughly eight months of journalism. + +The first public documentation appeared in [[SPLC]] Hatewatch on May 21, 2019, when reporter [[Michael Hayden (journalist)|Michael Hayden]] published a profile of the anonymous Slavros figure. The article established that the personal website slavros.org was registered in the name Alisher Mukhitdinov, with a listed address in the [[Tverskaya]] neighborhood of [[Moscow]].[^1] Alongside the WHOIS record, Hatewatch presented two categories of corroborating evidence: a 2014 Iron March propaganda video depicting two masked men posting Iron March stickers in Moscow, which Moscow-based journalist [[Alexey Kovalev]] reviewed for Hatewatch and confirmed as filmed on [[Old Arbat Street]]; and a pattern of Slavros forum posts referencing Moscow with the assumption that readers knew his location, including a January 1, 2012 post reading "It's already New Year in Moscow, hence the congratulations." The SPLC article noted the identification had been "long-speculated on the internet" before its publication, indicating the WHOIS record had been circulating in community discussions before journalistic confirmation. + +The second stage was [[Bellingcat]]'s December 19, 2019 investigation, "Transnational White Terror: Exposing Atomwaffen and the Iron March Networks," co-written by [[Alexander Reid Ross]], [[Emmi Bevensee]], and a researcher identified as ZC. The Bellingcat article covered Iron March and Atomwaffen comprehensively but characterized the slavros.org / Mukhitdinov connection as "leading to speculation that Slavros is Mukhitdinov's nom de guerre," treating it as the most credible hypothesis available rather than a confirmed identification.[^2] + +The definitive investigation was published by [[Andrei Soshnikov]] for BBC News Russian on January 30, 2020. Soshnikov located Mukhitdinov physically in southwest Moscow, living in a prefabricated apartment block; Mukhitdinov declined to speak with BBC. The investigation confirmed his educational history, his appearance and manner as described by classmates, and that he was not wanted by Russian law enforcement. BBC Russia investigated the theory, circulating in far-right online spaces, that Mukhitdinov had been pressured by Russian authorities for alleged fundraising for [[Azov Battalion]] (designated a terrorist organization under Russian law); Soshnikov found no evidence that any such fundraising occurred, and the reason for Iron March's November 2017 closure remains unestablished.[^3] Meduza published an English-language translation and summary of the BBC Russian investigation on February 4, 2020; this Meduza article is a secondary source derived from Soshnikov's reporting, not an independent verification.[^4] + +### The slavros.org WHOIS Record + +The foundational documentary link between Slavros and Mukhitdinov is the WHOIS registration of slavros.org, which listed Mukhitdinov's name and a Tverskaya-area Moscow address. Domain WHOIS records were publicly accessible without privacy masking during the period when this registration was made. The record is described by SPLC as "publicly available" at the time of their 2019 reporting. No independent journalist has reported accessing the raw DomainTools historical WHOIS record to verify the exact registration date, registrar, and full contact fields; the SPLC reporting describes what it found but does not reproduce the full record. + +The slavros.org domain is separate from ironmarch.org. No equivalent WHOIS attribution linking Mukhitdinov directly to the ironmarch.org domain registration has been reported by any source. + +### Iron March and the Slavros Persona + +Mukhitdinov developed Iron March under the "Alexander Slavros" alias, presenting himself as a Russian nationalist committed to a synthesis of neo-Nazism, fascist theory, and practical paramilitary organizing. The "Slavros" persona published a substantial body of theoretical writing on the forum, including "IronMarch.org: What to Do?" and "A Squire's Trial," a widely circulated text presenting neo-Nazi ideology through a Socratic dialogue format, both of which advocated for a form of neo-fascist vanguardism explicitly oriented toward eventual mass violence. This writing became influential within the forum's international community of members who were simultaneously building real-world organizations. + +The Slavros persona distinguished Iron March from older American white nationalist forums by its cosmopolitan, internationally focused neo-Nazism; the forum explicitly rejected what it framed as the parochialism of American white nationalism in favor of a global fascist solidarity framework.[^1] + +### Iron March Founding: ITPF and the Kacen Question + +Mukhitdinov did not create the forum that became Iron March. On June 26, 2010, an unidentified individual using the username "Kacen" created a forum called the [[International Third Positionist Federation]] (ITPF) on [[Bizhat]], an India-based hosting service. ITPF showed no activity until April 2011, when Mukhitdinov joined under the Slavros alias and began creating content, including a forum charter and discussion topics. In September 2011, ITPF's administrators migrated the forum to a new domain, ironmarch.org, using [[Invision Power Services]] forum software, and shut down the ITPF instance.[^5] + +Kacen was a co-administrator of Iron March alongside Slavros from the forum's inception, distinct from a third admin operating as "Woman in Black." Multiple sources confirm Kacen and Slavros were separate individuals. Community-level research published in Dogpatch Press in March 2022 suggested Kacen had been partially identified through a [[FurAffinity]] account operating as "Casen," with the same fursona used during his peak Iron March activity; Kacen is described as having entered the Deviantart neo-Nazi scene in the late 2000s before helping Mukhitdinov build the ITPF forum.[^6] No named investigative journalist has established Kacen's real-world identity with editorial vetting. As of May 2026, Kacen remains formally unidentified in open-source investigative reporting. + +The implication for Mukhitdinov's attribution is limited: he was not the sole architect of Iron March's predecessor, but the forum's ideological direction, theoretical output, and operational character from April 2011 forward were primarily his work under the Slavros alias. + +### AWD and the Forum's Organizational Output + +Iron March's most significant product was [[Atomwaffen Division]], which [[Brandon Russell]] announced to the forum community on October 12, 2015. The forum's other organizational outputs included the British neo-fascist group [[National Action]] and several European neo-Nazi formations. Mukhitdinov's theoretical writing provided part of the ideological framework that these organizations drew on, alongside [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]*, which Iron March members rediscovered and aggressively promoted beginning in 2015.[^2] + +The forum attracted members from dozens of countries who were simultaneously producing theory, building organizations, and planning operations. Members who later committed acts of violence, founded violent organizations, or were prosecuted on terrorism-related charges had all been active Iron March participants. The forum's influence on the contemporary neo-Nazi accelerationist landscape is documented in the [[CTC West Point]] analysis of the "skull mask" neo-fascist network and in the broader post-Iron March prosecutorial record. + +### Educational Background and Self-Description + +Soshnikov's BBC investigation established that Mukhitdinov studied psychology at [[Moscow State University]], transferred to the political science faculty, was expelled, then enrolled in the political science faculty at [[Moscow State Institute of International Relations]] (MGIMO) and was expelled again, reportedly for missing a history examination. His parents had met as students at MGIMO. Classmates described him to BBC Russia as someone with dark skin and East Asian features who referred to himself as a "metanationalist," a term he used because he understood he was genealogically distant from the communities advocating an ethnic Russian or white European identity, yet still committed to a fascist political program. He was born approximately 1989; no sourced investigative reporting establishes a specific birth date beyond the approximate year.[^3] + +### The Nuritdin Mukhitdinov Connection + +A senior Soviet official named [[Nuritdin Mukhitdinov]] (1917-2008) was a close relative on Alisher's father's side; the precise degree of kinship is not specified in any sourced investigative account. Nuritdin Mukhitdinov fought in the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], later led the Uzbek SSR under [[Nikita Khrushchev]], served as a member of the [[Presidium of the Communist Party of the USSR]] between 1957 and 1961, and served as the [[Soviet Union]]'s ambassador to Syria from 1968 to 1977. His Soviet-era career is independently documented. No source has established any documented connection between this family lineage and Iron March's funding, operation, or closure.[^3] + +### MGIMO and Russian State Recruitment + +The report by the investigative outlet [[Proekt]], published October 18, 2019, documented active [[FSB]] and [[SVR]] recruitment of students at MGIMO, drawing on accounts from multiple MGIMO students contacted by intelligence recruiters during internships and embassy postings.[^7] This establishes that MGIMO functions as a pipeline for Russian intelligence recruitment. No investigative report has documented any contact between Russian intelligence and Mukhitdinov himself; the absence of prosecution in Russia is consistent with state indifference as much as state facilitation, and the BBC investigation found no evidence of any state relationship. + +### Forum Closure and Post-2017 Status + +Iron March closed in November 2017. The reason has not been established publicly. In November 2019, an anonymous individual published the forum's complete user database, exposing approximately 1,200 usernames alongside email addresses, IP addresses, and post histories. Journalists, researchers, and law enforcement agencies used the leak to identify Iron March participants who had moved on to violent organizations, and it contributed to a wave of prosecutions including cases against AWD members. The database leak enabled identification of those members; Mukhitdinov's identification as Slavros rested separately on the slavros.org WHOIS record and BBC Russia's subsequent physical investigation. + +Soshnikov's BBC investigation found Mukhitdinov still living in Moscow in early 2020 and not subject to any Russian criminal investigation. He has not appeared publicly online under any identified alias since November 2017. He has not been prosecuted in any jurisdiction as of May 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Michael Hayden, "Mysterious Neo-Nazi Advocated Terrorism for Six Years Before Disappearance," *Hatewatch*, Southern Poverty Law Center, May 21, 2019. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/mysterious-neo-nazi-advocated-terrorism-six-years-disappearance/ +[^2]: Alexander Reid Ross, Emmi Bevensee, and ZC. "Transnational White Terror: Exposing Atomwaffen and the Iron March Networks," *Bellingcat*, December 19, 2019. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2019/12/19/transnational-white-terror-exposing-atomwaffen-and-the-iron-march-networks/ +[^3]: Andrei Soshnikov, "«С самого детства я осознавал, что я русский»: Как москвич Алишер Мухитдинов создал главный фашистский форум в интернете," *BBC News Russian*, January 30, 2020. Archived at Meduza: https://meduza.io/feature/2020/01/30/s-samogo-detstva-ya-osoznaval-chto-ya-russkiy +[^4]: Meduza (English). "How a Moscow man from an Uzbek family started the world's biggest neo-Nazi forum." February 4, 2020. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/02/04/how-a-moscow-man-from-an-uzbek-family-started-the-world-s-biggest-neo-nazi-forum (translation/summary of BBC Russian; not an independent investigation) +[^5]: H.E. Upchurch, "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network," *CTC Sentinel*, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, December 2021. https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^6]: Dogpatch Press. "The fascist fringe of furry fans: the Eastern Orthodox connection." March 9, 2022. https://dogpatch.press/2022/03/09/fascist-fringe-eastern-orthodox/ (community-level research; Kacen's real name not established by named investigative reporter) +[^7]: Proekt / The Moscow Times. "Russian Spies Are Recruiting MGIMO Students." October 18, 2019. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/10/18/russian-spies-recruit-mgimo-students-proekt-a67796 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Arda Küçükyetim.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Arda Küçükyetim.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c532b11e --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Arda Küçükyetim.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Turkey + - SaintsCulture + - HateCrime +born: 2006 +location: "Eskisehir, Turkey" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Arda Küçükyetim was a Turkish neo-Nazi who stabbed five people outside Tepebaşı Mosque in Eskisehir while livestreaming in August 2024, confirmed as Terrorgram-inspired in U.S. and Canadian criminal proceedings, and sentenced to 75 years in Turkish prison in 2025." +--- + +[[Arda Küçükyetim]] (born approximately 2006, [[Eskisehir, Turkey]]) attacked [[Tepebaşı Mosque]] in Eskisehir on August 12, 2024, stabbing five people, all mosque attendees, before his apprehension. All five victims survived. He livestreamed the attack through a vest-mounted camera on the platform [[Kick]] and had distributed his manifesto through a [[Telegram]] group he created prior to the attack. His manifesto cited [[Terrorgram Collective]]-associated "[[Saints Culture|saints]]" (including [[Brenton Tarrant]], [[Anders Breivik]], Stephen Paddock, and Timothy McVeigh) using the "saint" terminology precisely. The Terrorgram connection was confirmed in the U.S. sentencing documents for [[Dallas Humber]] (December 2025) and in [[Matthew Althorpe]]'s Canadian agreed statement of facts (March 27, 2026), both of which cited his attack as Terrorgram-inspired. [[Dallas Humber]] and [[Matthew Robert Allison]] were arrested by the FBI on September 5, 2024 - 24 days after the Eskisehir attack. Turkish courts sentenced Küçükyetim to 75 years and 5 months on September 24, 2025.[^1] + +### The Eskisehir Attack + +On the evening of August 12, 2024, at approximately 18:22 local time, Küçükyetim approached Tepebaşı Mosque in Eskisehir, Turkey, dressed in an assault vest, a helmet, and glasses bearing the [[Black Sun]] symbol (a neo-Nazi emblem) and began stabbing worshippers. The five victims were [[Tevfik Arslan]] (73), [[Cumali Özemek]] (57), [[Naşit Özyürek]] (89), [[Metin Korkmaz]] (66), and [[Cemal Altıntaş]] (53). All survived their wounds. + +He livestreamed the attack on Kick via a body-mounted camera. Prior to the attack, he had created a Telegram group where a contact distributed the manifesto, photographs, and supporting documents. + +### Manifesto and Ideology + +Küçükyetim's manifesto explicitly invoked the [[Saints Culture]] framework, using the term "saint" to describe Tarrant, Breivik, McVeigh, and Paddock as inspirational figures. The document made an accelerationist argument: "This system will eventually collapse... My actions and yours will accelerate this collapse and sooner or later the country, and then the world, will be covered in anarchy." The manifesto file-sharing also included [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]*, Ted Kaczynski's manifesto, and [[Atomwaffen Division]] logos. + +The file-hosting also contained the "Haters Handbook," an [[Maniac Murder Cult|MKY]] propaganda document. Researchers, including in a GNET analysis titled "Dead Society" (August 2024), noted that Küçükyetim drew from multiple overlapping accelerationist networks, but the Terrorgram connection is the one confirmed through U.S. and Canadian criminal proceedings. He is not documented as a formal MKY member. + +[[Natalie Rupnow]], who carried out the [[2024 Abundant Life Christian School Shooting|Abundant Life Christian School shooting]] in [[Madison, Wisconsin]] in December 2024, had browsed Küçükyetim's Telegram chat before her attack.[^2] + +### Terrorgram Attribution and International Proceedings + +Küçükyetim posted a link to his livestream in a Terrorgram Collective group chat. In the Humber sentencing (December 19, 2025), DOJ prosecutors cited his attack among the attacks inspired or guided by Terrorgram's operational network under Humber's leadership. In Althorpe's agreed statement of facts, Canadian prosecutors confirmed that his publications had inspired "the stabbing of five people at a mosque in Turkey in 2024." + +The FBI arrests of Humber and Allison came on September 5, 2024, 24 days after the Eskisehir attack, as part of the same coordinated operation that had been building since Althorpe's December 2023 Canadian arrest. The Daily Sabah (Turkey) reported at the time of the U.S. arrests that the FBI was specifically connecting them to the Küçükyetim case.[^1] + +### Turkish Sentencing + +On September 24, 2025, Küçükyetim was sentenced to 75 years and 5 months in Turkish prison, comprising four 15-year sentences for attempted murder, one 11-year-and-8-month sentence, and 3 years and 9 months for creating public panic.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: PPSC. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html; Daily Sabah. "US arrests white supremacists inspiring Turkish attacker." September 2024. https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/us-arrests-white-supremacists-inspiring-turkish-attacker/news +[^2]: ADL. "Turkey Attacker Inspired by Accelerationism and Mass Killers, Manifesto Shows." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/turkey-attacker-inspired-accelerationism-and-mass-killers-manifesto-shows; GNET. "Dead Society: Tracing the Online Dimension of a Militant Accelerationist-Inspired Attack in Turkey." August 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/08/16/dead-society-tracing-the-online-dimension-of-a-militant-accelerationist-inspired-attack-in-turkey/ +[^3]: Hurriyet Daily News. "Court sentences young man to 75 years for stabbing spree." September 2025. https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/court-sentences-young-man-to-75-years-for-stabbing-spree-213956 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/August Kreis III.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/August Kreis III.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a518655f --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/August Kreis III.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AryanNations + - NeoNazi + - WhiteSupremacy + - FBI + - FBIInformant + - USA + - SouthCarolina +summary: "August Kreis III was the director of a South Carolina Aryan Nations faction who made public overtures to al-Qaeda, an action reportedly instigated by FBI informant Joshua Caleb Sutter, before being convicted of VA benefits fraud in 2011." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 1952 +location: "Lexington, South Carolina" +--- + +August B. Kreis III was a white supremacist activist and self-appointed director of a [[Aryan Nations]] faction based in [[Lexington, South Carolina]] who served as a central node in the network that [[FBI]] informant [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] was deployed to monitor and report on following Sutter's 2003 arrest and recruitment. + +### Background and Aryan Nations Leadership + +Kreis had a long history in the white supremacist movement before his South Carolina period. He served as "minister of information" for the main Aryan Nations under [[Richard Butler]] before Butler's death in 2004, and subsequently assumed leadership of a splinter faction that continued under the Aryan Nations name from [[Lexington County, South Carolina]]. In this role he operated out of the same geographic and social environment as Sutter. + +### The Al-Qaeda Statements and FBI Investigation + +In 2005, Kreis publicly stated to CNN that the Aryan Nations sought to form an alliance with [[al-Qaeda]] and claimed members of his movement "desired to join Al Qaeda in its jihad against the United States government."[^1] He had previously pledged allegiance to [[Osama bin Laden]]. + +According to contemporaneous reporting citing FBI sources and former Aryan Nations figures, Sutter, already working as a paid FBI informant from his Lexington home, talked Kreis into making these public statements. Aryan Nations figures including Kreis himself and a figure named Redfeairn stated that Sutter had "attempted repeatedly to gain access to top leaders in various branches of the Aryan Nations and the Church of the Sons of Yaweh."[^2] The al-Qaeda public pledge brought FBI and media attention to Kreis and began the investigation that eventually led to his prosecution. + +In the same period, Sutter was appointed the "Minister for Islamic Liaison" of the Aryan Nations under Kreis, a position that nominally formalized the role he was performing as an FBI informant tracking Aryan Nations attempts to reach out to Islamist networks.[^2] + +### VA Fraud Prosecution and Sentence + +The FBI investigation into Kreis's public statements did not produce a material support for terrorism prosecution. Instead, investigators discovered financial irregularities: Kreis had collected nearly $193,000 in military pension benefits to which he was not fully entitled, reporting no income from side sources to the [[Veterans Administration]] in 2005 while actually receiving approximately $33,669 from undisclosed sources.[^1] + +In May 2011, a federal grand jury in [[U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina|U.S. District Court in Columbia, S.C.]], returned a three-count indictment against Kreis for filing fraudulent statements to obtain veterans benefits and embezzling money belonging to the United States. Kreis pleaded guilty in August 2011. In December 2011, he was sentenced to six months served, six months house arrest, two years probation, and ordered to repay approximately $193,000.[^3] + +Kreis resigned leadership of his Aryan Nations faction following his conviction. + +### Sutter's Earliest Federal Prosecution + +Kreis represents the earliest documented instance of Sutter's FBI informant work producing a prosecutorial outcome. The Kreis case preceded Sutter's 2014 Martinet Press publishing operations and his 2017 entry into [[Atomwaffen Division]], situating Kreis as an early node in a continuous informant deployment that ran from 2003 through at least 2021. The [[FBI Columbia Field Office]], which handled Sutter's primary informant relationship through Special Agent [[Bill Moser]], was the same field office with jurisdiction over the Lexington County operations involving Kreis. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: SPLC Hatewatch. "Neo-Nazi Leader Was Investigated for Supporting Al Qaeda." August 23, 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2011/08/23/neo-nazi-leader-was-investigated-supporting-al-qaeda + +[^2]: Religion News Blog / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Federal investigators infiltrate extremist groups." February 2003. https://www.religionnewsblog.com/2476/federal-investigators-infiltrate-extremist-groups + +[^3]: SPLC Hatewatch. "Neo-Nazi Leader August Kreis Sentenced for Fraud." December 14, 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/neo-nazi-leader-august-kreis-sentenced-fraud/ Post and Courier (Columbia, SC). "Aryan Nations leader sentenced for fraud in SC." December 2011. https://www.postandcourier.com/aryan-nations-leader-sentenced-for-fraud-in-sc/article_e8988b73-93c5-50f9-afd5-ea3eb873c1b0.html diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Baron Cain Martin.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Baron Cain Martin.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2451a53e --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Baron Cain Martin.md @@ -0,0 +1,160 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - CSAM + - DomesticTerrorism + - FederalCase + - Arizona + - ViolentExtremism + - MaterialSupport + - TerrorismCharge +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Baron Cain Martin, alias 'Convict,' is the first person in the United States charged under a federal terrorism statute as an alleged 764 Network member, with DOJ using 18 U.S.C. § 2339A anchored to an 18 U.S.C. § 956(a) conspiracy to kill or maim a victim located overseas." +born: 2004 +location: "Tucson, Arizona" +--- + +[[Baron Cain Martin]], known online as "Convict," is a 21-year-old resident of [[Tucson, Arizona]] who was indicted by a federal grand jury in the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona]] on 29 counts in October 2025, making him the first person in the United States to face a federal terrorism charge as an alleged member of the [[764 Network|764]] network. Martin has been in federal custody since his arrest on December 11, 2024, and the indictment was unsealed on October 31, 2025.[^1] + +### Background and Role in 764 + +According to prosecutors, Martin joined 764 in approximately 2019, when he was around 14 or 15 years old, and over the following years rose to a position of leadership and administration within the network's chatrooms. By the time of his arrest he was operating as an administrator of 764 spaces and had authored a detailed grooming guide that he posted online, advising other 764 members on how to identify, groom, and extort vulnerable juveniles. The guide specifically recommended targeting victims who were already struggling with mental health issues, on the ground that psychological vulnerability made targets easier to coerce.[^1] + +Martin operated across [[Discord]], [[Telegram]], and other platforms under the "Convict" alias and additional handles. Named co-conspirators in the indictment include [[Leonidas Varagiannis]], [[Prasan Nepal]], and [[Tony Christopher Long]], all separately prosecuted in federal cases arising from the same investigative period. + +### Case Record + +The case is docketed as [[United States v. Martin (4-25-cr-00190)|United States v. Martin]], 4:25-cr-00190-TUC-AMM(BGM), before [[Angela M. Martinez|U.S. District Judge Angela M. Martinez]], with [[Bruce G. Macdonald]] serving as the assigned magistrate.[^2] The original arrest charges were filed under magistrate case 4:24-mj-11950 following Martin's arrest on December 11, 2024. A superseding grand jury indictment on 29 counts was returned and unsealed on October 31, 2025; Martin was arraigned on the superseding indictment on November 21, 2025 and entered a not-guilty plea on all counts. + +The case was designated complex by the court. An original trial date of March 24, 2026 was vacated; a status conference before Magistrate Macdonald was scheduled for May 19, 2026. The current jury trial date is June 30, 2026, with a plea deadline of June 19, 2026.[^3] + +The prosecution is led by [[Justin Sher]], Trial Attorney in the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] National Security Division's [[Counterterrorism Section]], and [[James Donnelly]], who serves as DOJ's designated domestic terrorism coordinator for [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism]] cases. The indictment was filed by [[Timothy Courchaine]], U.S. Attorney for the [[District of Arizona]], who was appointed to that position by [[Attorney General]] [[Pamela Bondi]] on February 28, 2025.[^1] + +### Charges + +The 29-count superseding indictment charges Martin with: + +- Participating in a child exploitation enterprise +- Conspiring to provide material support to terrorists ([[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]]) +- Conspiring to kill, kidnap, or maim persons in a foreign country ([[18 U.S.C. § 956|18 U.S.C. § 956(a)]]) +- Producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), five counts +- Distributing CSAM, eleven counts +- Coercing and enticing minors to engage in sexual activity, three counts +- Cyberstalking, three counts +- Animal crushing and distribution of animal crush videos +- Conspiracy to commit wire fraud + +The material support to terrorism charge rests in part on a September 2022 alleged conspiracy in which Martin directed a victim living outside the United States to self-harm, self-maim, and self-kill. Prosecutors applied the terrorism statute because this coercive violence was intended to further the goals of 764 as a nihilistic violent extremist network.[^1] + +### Victims + +The superseding indictment alleges that Martin victimized at least nine individuals. Eight of the nine victims were minors at the time the offenses were committed, ranging in age from 11 to 15 years old. The indictment does not name the victims publicly. + +### First Federal Terrorism Designation + +The designation of the material support to terrorism count against Martin represents the first time in the United States that a 764 network member has been charged with a federal terrorism offense. The case was cited by [[Pamela Bondi|Attorney General Pamela Bondi]] and [[Kash Patel|FBI Director Kash Patel]] at the time of its announcement as evidence of the government's willingness to apply terrorism statutes to what had previously been charged primarily as child exploitation crimes.[^1] + +DOJ Trial Attorney [[Justin Sher]] (National Security Division) and DOJ career officials subsequently offered public assessments of 764 as a terrorism threat equal in seriousness to foreign-directed networks. The Martin case is the legal vehicle through which the DOJ is testing the proposition that 764's violence is terrorism rather than merely criminal exploitation.[^4] + +### The Terrorism Charge: Statutory Theory + +The terrorism count in the indictment is a conspiracy charge under [[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]]: conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. This is not a charge under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B (providing material support to a designated [[Foreign Terrorist Organization]]). The distinction is legally critical: 764 is not a State Department-designated FTO, so 2339B was unavailable. + +Section 2339A instead requires only that the defendant knowingly provide material support, defined broadly to include property, services, expert advice or assistance, personnel (including oneself), and training, knowing or intending that the support will be used in preparation for, or to carry out, a listed predicate offense. The predicate offense named in the Martin indictment is a violation of [[18 U.S.C. § 956|18 U.S.C. § 956(a)]]: conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons in a foreign country, requiring an overt act within U.S. jurisdiction.[^5] + +The statutory mechanics: DOJ charged Martin with conspiring to provide material support (under 2339A) in furtherance of a conspiracy to kill or maim an overseas victim (under 956(a)). The two conspiracy layers do not create an impermissible "conspiracy to conspire" problem because 2339A contains its own conspiracy provision, meaning no separate overt act is required once the agreement is formed.[^6] + +The penalty for the 2339A conspiracy count is up to 15 years per count. The 956(a) conspiracy to kill, if it results in death, carries life imprisonment; conspiracy to maim carries up to 35 years. + +### Specific Facts Underlying the Terrorism Count + +The terrorism count rests on a September 2022 conspiracy in which Martin and unnamed co-conspirators directed a victim identified only as "Victim 7," located outside the United States, to self-harm, self-maim, and die by suicide. The government's theory is that coercing an overseas victim to commit violence against themselves constitutes a conspiracy to kill or maim a person in a foreign country under 956(a), and that Martin's actions in furtherance of that conspiracy, specifically his authorship and circulation of the "[[Grooming/Manipulation Egirls Guide]]" and his operational direction of 764 members, constituted "expert advice or assistance" and "services" and "personnel" within the meaning of 2339A.[^5] + +According to analysis published by researchers at the [[GWU Program on Extremism]], the government will likely rely on overlapping evidence to prove both the 956(a) conspiracy and the 2339A conspiracy, since the same conduct (coercing Victim 7) forms the core of both counts.[^6] + +U.S. Attorney Courchaine described the ideological component at a press conference: the conduct was not motivated by financial gain but by "the glory and for the ideology of bringing down just generally the system," and that ideological motive, 764's stated accelerationist goal of destabilizing U.S. society and the world order, is what supports the terrorism framing under the statute. He stated: "It's terrorism because it was an ideology that specifically motivated violent actions."[^7] + +### The Grooming Guide as Material Support + +The indictment identifies Martin as the author and distributor of the "Grooming/Manipulation Egirls Guide," which provided detailed instructions to 764 members on how to identify, target, and coerce vulnerable minors into producing CSAM and self-harm content. The government classifies the guide's authorship and distribution as both a "service" to 764 members and "expert advice or assistance" within the statutory definition of material support under 2339A. This theory, that a written manual of criminal tradecraft constitutes "expert advice or assistance" under the terrorism material support statute, is a significant extension of how 2339A has traditionally been applied and could face First Amendment challenge if Martin moves to dismiss.[^6] + +### Why Martin and Not Earlier 764 Defendants + +The 2339A/956 theory was not applied in earlier 764 prosecutions for a structural reason. The 956(a) predicate requires a conspiracy to kill or maim a person located in a foreign country. Earlier cases, including the founding prosecution of [[Bradley Chance Cadenhead]] (Texas state court, CSAM charges only), and the federal prosecutions of [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]] (D.D.C., case 1:25-cr-00304, child exploitation enterprise and related charges but no terrorism count), either did not involve an identified overseas victim of directed lethal violence, or prosecutors chose not to deploy the terrorism theory at that stage.[^8] + +The Martin indictment is the first case where DOJ identified a specific overseas victim who was directed to commit lethal self-harm, providing the 956(a) predicate anchor that makes 2339A available without any FTO designation. The Baumgartner/Jonas analysis frames this as DOJ using 2339A as "connective tissue linking online radicalization to real-world harm" and as a signal that the government now views NVE networks as terrorist enterprises rather than merely criminal exploitation schemes.[^6] + +An additional factor is the explicit accelerationist ideology element. The Chavez prosecution (San Antonio, RICO guilty plea December 2025) and the Varagiannis/Nepal prosecution both used NVE framing in press releases but charged under RICO and child exploitation statutes. Martin's case is distinguished by the combination of: (1) a specifically identified overseas victim, (2) documented ideological goal statements from Martin himself about societal destabilization, and (3) the existence of the grooming guide as a distributable "expert advice" artifact. + +### Murder-for-Hire Allegation + +The indictment also contains a discrete episode from 2022 in which, after becoming involved in a dispute with a 13-year-old girl, Martin allegedly offered to pay $3,000 to have the girl's grandmother killed. He allegedly provided the grandmother's home address and shared both the girl's and her grandmother's phone numbers in a separate Discord chat alongside a solicitation for someone to carry out the attack. This episode is cited in the conspiracy to kill, kidnap or maim persons in a foreign country count and by U.S. Attorney Courchaine as additional support for the terrorism framing, a murder-for-hire offer directed at a family member of a coercion victim, undertaken as network discipline.[^7] + +### Potential Sentence + +If convicted, Martin faces a maximum penalty of life in prison on each count of participating in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to kill or maim in a foreign country, and coercion and enticement of a child. He faces 30 years per count for production of CSAM, 15 years for providing material support to terrorists, up to 20 years for cyberstalking resulting in permanent disfigurement or bodily injury, and additional penalties for the remaining counts.[^1] + +### FBI Classification and Congressional Oversight + +The FBI's internal classification of 764 as a "Tier One" investigative matter, the highest threat category, preceded the Martin terrorism charge and provided the institutional framework within which DOJ National Security Division attorneys were able to bring a terrorism count. FBI Director [[Kash Patel]] testified to Congress in September 2025 that 764 represents "the new form of what I refer to as modern-day terrorism in America."[^9] + +On February 17, 2026, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman [[James Comer]] and Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement Chairman [[Clay Higgins]] sent a formal letter to Patel requesting a classified staff briefing on the FBI's 764 investigations and apprehensions, noting that the Bureau had more than 250 open 764 investigations.[^10] + +[[Steve Grocki]], Chief of DOJ's [[Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section]], acknowledged the charging challenge in a December 2025 public panel hosted by the GWU Program on Extremism: "Coercing a minor to engage in self-harm or to harm another is not necessarily criminalized in an easy way." The Martin 2339A theory represents DOJ's resolution of that charging gap, sidestepping the absence of a specific federal statute criminalizing directed self-harm by instead treating the coercive campaign as a terrorism conspiracy.[^4] + +At the same panel, Sher described 764's stated objective as "to cause the downfall of society, cause the downfall of the U.S. government," and Donnelly called the threat "as serious a threat as you can imagine."[^4] + +### Pre-Trial Record + +As of May 2026, no defense motions challenging the terrorism count have been reported in public sources or accessible docket summaries. The case was designated complex, which typically signals that both parties anticipate substantial pre-trial litigation. Any motion to dismiss or constitutional challenge to the terrorism charge would likely target either (a) the First Amendment implications of treating the grooming guide as "expert advice or assistance" under 2339A, or (b) whether directing a victim to harm herself satisfies the "kill, kidnap, or maim" element of 956(a) when the perpetrator is directing self-inflicted harm rather than acting directly. The PACER docket (4:25-cr-00190) should be checked closer to the June 30, 2026 trial date for any newly filed motions.[^3] + +Martin has been held in federal pretrial detention since his initial arrest on December 11, 2024. + +### International Parallel Proceedings + +The Martin prosecution is occurring alongside a wave of international cases against 764 and Com network members in which the question of terrorism prosecution is being actively contested in multiple jurisdictions. + +In the [[Netherlands]], the founder of [[No Lives Matter]], identified only as Justin B., 25, of [[Eindhoven]], faces charges under Article 140a of the Dutch Criminal Code, membership in a terrorist organization, as well as CSAM, animal crushing, and distribution of violent content charges. The Dutch [[Openbaar Ministerie]] (OM) formally classified No Lives Matter as a terrorist organization, making this the first known terrorism prosecution of a Com network member in the EU. Justin B. was held in the high-security terrorist wing of [[Vught Prison]] and appeared in the high-security courtroom in [[Rotterdam]] in October 2025 at his first public hearing.[^11] + +In [[Germany]], [[Shahriar J.]], a 21-year-old dual German-Iranian national known by the alias "White Tiger," faces 204 criminal charges in [[Hamburg]] state court, including one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder as an indirect perpetrator. Shahriar J. was arrested on June 17, 2025 following an FBI tip on child pornography; police found 85,000 files and more than 600 videos. Prosecutors allege he drove a 13-year-old American boy to suicide in January 2022 via livestream by using a Finnish minor as an intermediary. Trial began in Hamburg on January 9, 2026 with 82 days of hearings scheduled through December 17. Germany is prosecuting under murder and CSAM statutes, not terrorism statutes, making the Hamburg case a direct contrast to the U.S. 2339A approach.[^12] + +In [[Canada]], the government listed 764 as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code on December 10, 2025, becoming the first country to formally designate the network. The listing criminalizes participation in and support for 764, and freezes all Canadian-held 764 property. Canada had already conducted multiple terrorism prosecutions of Com/764-adjacent individuals: the [[RCMP]] arrested an Edmonton-area 15-year-old in May 2025 and again in October 2025 for terrorism offenses linked to the Com/764 network, charging the youth with participation in a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity, willful promotion of hatred, uttering threats, and CSAM possession.[^13] + +### Analytical Significance + +The 2339A/956 theory, as deployed in the Martin case, resolves what had been the central obstacle to terrorism prosecution of domestic online networks that are not designated FTOs: it requires only an overseas victim, a knowing conspiracy to cause lethal or serious physical harm to that victim, and defendant conduct classifiable as material support. No State Department designation, no ideological alignment with a recognized foreign movement, and no connection to a foreign government or organization is required. The theory travels wherever 764 goes, which is transnational by design. + +[[Tanya Mehra]] and [[Menso Hartgers]] of the [[International Centre for Counter-Terrorism]] (ICCT), in their October 2025 policy brief "Fury and Void: Legal Pathways to Counter 764," noted the challenge of applying traditional terrorism legal frameworks to 764 given the network's stated nihilism rather than a coherent political ideology, arguing that nihilism as such may not satisfy some national terrorism threshold definitions. The U.S. government's approach sidesteps this problem entirely: by anchoring the 2339A charge to 956(a)'s foreign-country violence predicate, DOJ avoids having to prove ideological terrorism intent under any federal domestic terrorism definition. The act of conspiring to cause lethal harm to an overseas victim is sufficient, regardless of ideology.[^14] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." Press Release, October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise; CyberScoop. "Alleged 764 leader arrested in Arizona, faces life in prison." https://cyberscoop.com/baron-cain-martin-764-leader-arrested-charged/ + +[^2]: CourtListener, United States v. Martin, 4:25-cr-00190-TUC-AMM(BGM), D. Ariz. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69535068/united-states-v-martin/ + +[^3]: PacerMonitor, USA v. Martin, 4:25-cr-00190, Arizona District Court. https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/56789960/USA_v_Martin + +[^4]: ABC News. "In rare public comments, career DOJ officials offer chilling warnings about online network 764." 2026. https://abcnews.com/US/rare-public-comments-career-doj-officials-offer-chilling/story?id=128526657; GWU Program on Extremism. "Holding 764 Accountable." Panel, December 18, 2025. https://extremism.gwu.edu/holding-764-accountable + +[^5]: 18 U.S.C. § 2339A (material support to terrorists); 18 U.S.C. § 956(a) (conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons in a foreign country). Cornell LII: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2339A; https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/956 + +[^6]: Baumgartner, Luke, and Barry Jonas. "How the DOJ is Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism as Domestic Terrorism." *Just Security,* December 9, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/126226/prosecuting-nihilistic-violent-extremism-domestic-terrorism/ + +[^7]: AZFamily. "Tucson case first in nation to pursue federal terrorism charges against member of 764." April 3, 2026. https://www.azfamily.com/2026/04/03/tucson-case-first-nation-pursue-federal-terrorism-charges-against-member-764/ + +[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-DC. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 30, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise + +[^9]: Patel, Kash. Opening Statement, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Federal Bureau of Investigation Oversight Hearing, September 16, 2025. https://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches-and-testimony/director-patel-opening-statement-to-the-senate-committee-on-the-judiciary-091625 + +[^10]: U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Letter to FBI Director Kash Patel re: 764 Network, February 17, 2026. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Letter-to-FBI-764-Group-.pdf + +[^11]: NL Times. "Eindhoven suspect says he left sadistic online 'Com' shortly before his arrest." October 28, 2025. https://nltimes.nl/2025/10/28/eindhoven-suspect-says-left-sadistic-online-com-shortly-arrest + +[^12]: Euronews. "German court begins trial of 'White Tiger' online predator." January 9, 2026. https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/09/german-court-begins-trial-of-white-tiger-online-predator; CBS News. "Man dubbed 'White Tiger' charged with murder over U.S. teen's livestreamed suicide." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-charged-murder-germany-us-teen-suicide-764-network/ + +[^13]: Government of Canada. "Government of Canada lists four new terrorist entities." December 10, 2025. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/12/government-of-canada-lists-four-new-terrorist-entities0.html; RCMP. "Alberta youth arrested for terrorism and child pornography offences." October 2, 2025. https://rcmp.ca/en/news/2025/10/alberta-youth-arrested-terrorism-and-child-pornography-offences + +[^14]: Mehra, Tanya, and Menso Hartgers. "Fury and Void: Legal Pathways to Counter 764." International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), October 2025. https://icct.nl/publication/fury-and-void-legal-pathways-counter-764 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ben John.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ben John.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e49467bd --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ben John.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - ViolentExtremism + - Accelerationism + - Lincolnshire +location: "Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Ben John was a 21-year-old Lincoln criminology student convicted in August 2021 of one terrorism possession offence and given a suspended sentence later overturned on Solicitor General reference, with O9A literature among material found in his possession." +--- + +Ben John, 21, of Lincoln, was a criminology student at [[De Montfort University]] Leicester when he was arrested following an 11-month investigation by [[Counter Terrorism Policing]]'s East Midlands unit. Officers found a hard drive at his home in Saxby Street, Highfields, Leicester, containing the Anarchy Cookbook Version 2000, an array of white supremacist and antisemitic literature, and material relating to the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A). He was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on 12 August 2021 of one count of possessing a document useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]].[^1] + +### Initial Sentencing + +Judge [[Timothy Spencer QC]] sentenced John on 31 August 2021 to two years' imprisonment suspended for two years. In unusually personal sentencing remarks, Spencer asked John whether he had ever read the works of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, or William Shakespeare, and directed him to read classic literature as part of what he framed as an effort to broaden the defendant's perspective. Spencer's direction and the suspended sentence attracted immediate and widespread press criticism, with multiple counter-extremism commentators arguing that the sentence was inadequate for a conviction carrying a 10-year maximum.[^2] + +### Solicitor General Reference and Court of Appeal + +[[Solicitor General]] [[Alex Chalk QC MP]] (who later served as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor under Rishi Sunak) personally presented a reference under section 36 of the [[Criminal Justice Act 1988]] to the Court of Appeal, arguing that John's suspended sentence was unduly lenient. The Court of Appeal upheld the reference. On 19 January 2022, the court increased John's sentence to two years' immediate imprisonment plus one year on licence. John was required to surrender himself to police custody and was taken to Lincoln city centre police station by 4pm that day.[^3] + +The case citation for the Court of Appeal judgment is reported as [2022] EWCA Crim 54. + +### O9A Materials + +Officers found that John possessed O9A material alongside white supremacist and antisemitic literature. Lincolnshire Police's statement after his conviction specified that the material included content related to O9A as a Satanist organisation. The charge was on the possession count alone, not for O9A membership or dissemination; the O9A material was part of the broader evidence establishing John's extremist orientation rather than forming a discrete element of the charge.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Greatest Hits Radio (Lincolnshire). "Lincoln 'white supremacist' convicted of terrorism offence." August 2021. https://planetradio.co.uk/lincs-fm/local/news/lincoln-white-supremacist-convicted-of-terrorism-offence/; Special Branch inquiry via Far-Right Criminals. https://far-rightcriminals.com/2021/08/13/special-branch-inquiry-led-to-students-terror-related-arrest/ + +[^2]: ITV News Central. "White supremacist Ben John told to read books by Judge who spared him jail imprisoned upon appeal." January 19, 2022. https://www.itv.com/news/central/2022-01-19/white-supremacist-ben-john-told-to-read-books-by-judge-who-spared-him-jail-imprisoned-upon-appeal; Law Gazette. "Extremist told to read classic literature jailed by Court of Appeal." January 2022. https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/extremist-told-to-read-classic-literature-jailed-by-court-of-appeal/5111203.article + +[^3]: GOV.UK. "Ben John's sentence increased following personal intervention by the Solicitor General." January 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ben-johns-sentence-increased-following-personal-intervention-by-the-solicitor-general--3; Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), R v John [2022] EWCA Crim 54 (19 January 2022). diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Benjamin Hannam.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Benjamin Hannam.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5f7eb549 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Benjamin Hannam.md @@ -0,0 +1,155 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - NationalAction + - MetropolitanPolice + - UK + - TerroristOrganization + - IronMarch + - Proscribed + - VettingFailure + - LawEnforcementEntryism +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Benjamin Hannam was a probationary Metropolitan Police constable convicted on 1 April 2021 at the Old Bailey of National Action membership, fraud by false representation on his police vetting forms, and possession of terrorist documents, becoming the first serving UK police officer convicted of a terrorism-related offence, with his identification tracing directly to the 2019 Iron March database leak." +--- + +Benjamin Hannam was a probationary constable with the [[Metropolitan Police Service]] who became the first serving British police officer convicted of a terrorism-related offence. He was convicted on 1 April 2021 at the [[Central Criminal Court]] (Old Bailey) of membership of the proscribed organisation [[National Action]], two counts of fraud by false representation for lying on his police application and vetting forms, two counts of possession of documents useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]], and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child. He was sentenced on 4 May 2021 by Judge [[Anthony Leonard QC]] to four years and four months in prison plus one year on extended licence.[^1] + +### Recruitment into National Action + +Hannam, of Edmonton, north London, attended his first National Action meeting on 6 March 2016 at a pub in Paddington, London, joining the organisation's London branch.[^2] He was 17 at the time. He continued to attend National Action activities and events through the summer of 2017, meaning his membership spanned both the organisation's legal period and the period following its proscription on 16 December 2016 under the [[Terrorism Act 2000]] (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2016, when [[Amber Rudd]] described it as "a racist, antisemitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology."[^3] + +Evidence confirmed that Hannam attended a National Action meeting in a pub in [[Swindon]] in January 2017, after the proscription had taken effect. The prosecution used CCTV footage, travel records, and financial transactions to place him at this gathering. Others in attendance included individuals who were later convicted of National Action membership and terrorism-related offences in subsequent prosecutions.[^4] + +The prosecution characterised Hannam as an "active recruiter" for National Action's London branch during his period of membership.[^5] + +### Iron March and the "Anglisc" Account + +Hannam registered on the [[Iron March]] neo-fascist web forum under the username "Anglisc" shortly after joining National Action's London branch in March 2016. His Iron March posts from 2016 to 2017 included a thread he started titled "Muslim shoots white man in London," in which he asked other users for "thoughts and advice." In Iron March private messages, Hannam described himself as a fascist and disclosed his National Action membership.[^6] + +The Iron March forum closed in November 2017. In November 2019, an anonymous individual calling themselves "antifa-data" uploaded the complete Iron March SQL database to the [[Internet Archive]], exposing 1,207 user accounts including registration email addresses, IP addresses, and all public and private message content. [[Counter Terrorism Command]] detectives investigating Iron March-linked individuals in the United Kingdom identified the "Anglisc" account and linked it to Hannam's address in February 2020.[^7] He was arrested at his home in north London on 5 March 2020. + +The Iron March database was thus the proximate mechanism by which a serving police officer's pre-employment extremism was discovered, two years after he had joined the force. + +### Vetting Application and Fraud + +Hannam applied to join the Metropolitan Police Service on 19 July 2017, at a time when he had been a National Action member for approximately 17 months and a member of the organisation after its proscription for seven months. He submitted both an initial application form and a subsequent vetting form, on both of which he was asked whether he had been a member of the [[British National Party]] "or similar organisation." On both occasions he answered in the negative.[^8] + +His school, which had raised concerns internally about comments Hannam had made about immigration during a Brexit debate, was not contacted during the vetting process. The Metropolitan Police later confirmed that "no school reference was sought" during Hannam's 2017 vetting.[^9] + +Hannam joined the Metropolitan Police in or around early 2018 and worked as a probationary constable for nearly two years before his arrest in March 2020. He was 21 at the time of arrest and 22 at the time of conviction. + +The fraud charges, brought under sections 1 and 2 of the [[Fraud Act 2006]], covered both the initial police application and the vetting form. The sentencing remarks by Anthony Leonard QC are published on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website.[^10] + +### Evidence Seized + +When Counter Terrorism Command officers searched Hannam's home following his arrest, they found Nazi-style posters, handwritten notes detailing his National Action membership, badges and business cards associated with the organisation, and a USB memory stick containing two documents charged under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 as information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.[^11] + +The first document was [[Anders Breivik]]'s manifesto, which contained detailed guidance on the manufacture of radiological, chemical, and biological weapons and improvised explosive devices. Breivik killed 77 people in coordinated attacks in [[Norway]] on 22 July 2011. The second document was an instructional manual on how to use a knife to carry out a fatal attack. + +Additionally, a prohibited image of a child was found in Hannam's possession. He pleaded guilty to this count separately under section 62 of the [[Coroners and Justice Act 2009]], and a reporting restriction on the case was lifted by Judge Leonard after Hannam entered this plea, enabling full press reporting of all charges.[^12] + +No O9A-specific materials were identified in published case documentation as forming part of the section 58 charges, though O9A symbols were noted among materials found in National Action-associated searches conducted during the broader National Action prosecution wave. Hannam's involvement with National Action post-dated the period in which [[Ryan Fleming]], the O9A-affiliated Yorkshire National Action organiser, was most directly active in pushing O9A ideology into the organisation's internal culture. + +### Sentence and Post-Conviction Orders + +Judge Anthony Leonard QC sentenced Hannam at the Central Criminal Court on 4 May 2021. The sentencing remarks place the offending in Category B culpability on the National Action membership count, characterised as toward the lower end of the scale in terms of terrorist connections and motivations.[^10] The total sentence was four years and four months, concurrent across the multiple counts, plus one year on extended licence. + +In addition to the custodial sentence: + +The [[Crown Prosecution Service]] applied for and was granted a [[Serious Crime Prevention Order]] for a period of two years following Hannam's release, with conditions restricting his internet use to protect the public. + +A 10-year notification period was imposed under terrorism notification provisions, which requires Hannam to notify police of specified personal information for a decade following his release. + +Hannam was already no longer serving by the time of sentencing, having been suspended following his arrest. An accelerated gross misconduct hearing was conducted in April 2021, concurrent with the criminal proceedings. The tribunal found the allegation of discreditable conduct proven as gross misconduct and dismissed Hannam without notice.[^13] + +### National Action Prosecution Waves + +Hannam's case fell within the fourth documented wave of National Action prosecutions. The prior three waves produced convictions at the [[Old Bailey]] in July 2018 (Wave 1: [[Christopher Lythgoe]], [[Matthew Hankinson]]), at [[Birmingham Crown Court]] in December 2018 (Wave 2: [[Adam Thomas]], [[Claudia Patatas]], [[Daniel Bogunovic]], [[Darren Fletcher]], [[Nathan Pryke]], [[Joel Wilmore]]), and at Birmingham Crown Court in June 2020 (Wave 3: [[Alice Cutter]], [[Mark Jones]], [[Garry Jack]], [[Connor Scothern]]). A fifth wave at [[Winchester Crown Court]] in May 2022 convicted National Action co-founder [[Alex Davies]] on membership charges. The full prosecution history is documented in the [[National Action]] vault entry.[^14] + +Hannam's case introduced a distinct charge type not present in the earlier waves: the fraud by false representation counts arising from his police application and vetting forms. These counts make the case structurally significant as a documented instance of a proscribed terrorist organisation's member successfully passing into a law enforcement institution through deliberate deception of the vetting process. + +### The Iron March Identification Mechanism + +The mechanism by which Hannam's pre-employment extremism was discovered illustrates the specific institutional risk posed by the Iron March leak. Standard police vetting in 2017 had no access to the Iron March database, which did not become publicly available until November 2019. The forum's closure in November 2017 came approximately four months after Hannam submitted his police application, and approximately five months before he is presumed to have begun probationary service. + +The Counter Terrorism Command investigation that identified Hannam began in February 2020, approximately 27 months after the forum's closure and 15 months after the database leak. This timeline demonstrates that a serving officer with known prior extremist forum activity remained undetected for the entire duration of his probationary period, with identification occurring only through a retrospective external data source.[^7] + +[[Bellingcat]], which published its Iron March database access guide on 6 November 2019 (the same day as the leak), noted in its reporting that the database mapped U.K.-based Iron March users across multiple cities and that the dataset was being used by researchers and journalists to identify individuals whose extremist activities had been pseudonymous. + +### Vetting System Failures + +The specific vetting failure in Hannam's case rested on the absence of a school reference check. His school had raised concerns about his views internally during a Brexit debate, but because no reference was sought from the school, this information was never available to the vetting unit. The Metropolitan Police's internal standard for vetting of candidates for the officer role required referee checks, but school references were not routinely mandated.[^9] + +The broader systemic context was later documented in the [[HMICFRS]] thematic inspection commissioned on 18 October 2021 by then-Home Secretary [[Priti Patel]] in the wake of the murder of [[Sarah Everard]] by serving Metropolitan Police officer [[Wayne Couzens]]. The HMICFRS inspection, conducted between November 2021 and May 2022 across eight forces, examined 725 vetting files of candidates who had received clearance and found 131 where the clearance decision was "questionable at best." Among those 131 cases were officers with criminal records, with substantial undischarged debt, with family members linked to organised crime, or who had provided false information to the vetting unit.[^15] + +The Metropolitan Police's subsequent internal review, [[Operation Jorica]], published in January 2026, examined vetting and hiring practices over the 10 years prior to April 2023 and found that of 5,073 recruits examined, nearly 90 per cent were not subjected to special branch counter-terrorism screening. The review attributed this gap to the pace and scale of recruitment under the national [[Police Uplift Programme]], which ran from July 2019 and targeted the addition of 20,000 officers across England and Wales by March 2023, with the Metropolitan Police assigned a target of 4,557 additional officers.[^16] + +### Parliamentary Accountability + +The Hannam case generated immediate accountability pressure on the Metropolitan Police from the [[London Assembly]]. Following the conviction in April 2021, Assembly members posed formal written questions to the Mayor of London under the heading "Met Police Officers and Banned Far-Right Groups," seeking assurance that no other serving officers or staff were members of proscribed organisations. The Metropolitan Police's response to these questions is documented in the London Assembly question-and-answer records.[^17] + +No dedicated parliamentary debate focused specifically on the Hannam case was located in Hansard for the period April to December 2021. The case was, however, contextually present in the broader Hansard record of the period through the HMICFRS vetting inquiry commission (October 2021) and the Topical Questions session of 22 November 2021, in which vetting failures and the standards of behaviour necessary to maintain public trust in policing were debated in the aftermath of the Couzens murder. The Home Secretary's commissioning of the HMICFRS inspection cited both the Couzens case and the broader pattern of misconduct as the basis for the review.[^15] + +The O9A proscription debate conducted in the House of Commons on 13 July 2021 (HC Deb), documented in the [[Order of Nine Angles]] vault entry, addressed the broader pattern of O9A-linked convictions and the government's refusal to explain its non-decision on proscription. The Hannam case was subsumed within this debate as one of the eight O9A-connected convictions between April 2019 and April 2021 cited by [[HOPE not hate]] and referenced by [[Stephanie Peacock MP]] and [[Stephen Doughty MP]] in their calls for proscription.[^18] + +### O9A Entryism Pattern + +The O9A doctrine of [[Insight Roles]], first published in O9A's 1989 text "Insight Roles: A Guide" (collected in *[[Hostia]]: Secret Teachings of the O.N.A.*, Vol. I, 1992), explicitly instructs initiates undertaking the Internal Adept stage of the [[Seven Fold Way]] to adopt and fully inhabit a lifestyle alien to their usual existence, with enumerated options including service in the military or police. O9A literature explicitly frames infiltration of law enforcement and armed forces as spiritually meritorious within the Seven Fold Way framework.[^19] + +Hannam's case is not a documented instance of O9A insight roles in law enforcement in the strict sense: the charges against him centred on National Action membership, not O9A membership or affiliation, and no published court document identifies O9A as a motivating framework for his decision to join the police. The link between National Action and O9A in this period ran primarily through Ryan Fleming's Yorkshire nexion, whose O9A influence on the broader organisation is documented but contested in terms of its reach to individual members such as Hannam. + +What Hannam's case does document is the structural fact that a member of a proscribed terrorist organisation successfully passed police vetting and served as a constable for two years. Whether the mechanism was insight-role doctrine, opportunistic careerism, or a combination is not established in the trial record. + +The documented cases of O9A adherents who joined military or law enforcement institutions as a direct expression of insight role doctrine include [[Ethan Phelan Melzer]], the U.S. Army private in the [[173rd Airborne Brigade]] who was convicted in the Southern District of New York after transmitting classified unit deployment information to O9A members on Telegram, conspiring to arrange a mass-casualty attack on his own soldiers. Melzer's prosecution memo stated explicitly that he "joined the Army in 2018 as part of what O9A referred to as an 'insight role.'" He was sentenced to 45 years in March 2023.[^20] + +[[Nicholas Welker]], the [[Feuerkrieg Division]] leader convicted in the Eastern District of New York of conspiring to make interstate death threats, joined FKD explicitly as an O9A insight role, as documented in his prosecution records. He was sentenced to 44 months in April 2024.[^21] + +Hannam's conviction stands as the only documented case of a serving UK police officer convicted of terrorism-related offences arising from membership of a proscribed far-right organisation. No equivalent case involving direct O9A membership in a UK law enforcement context had been prosecuted as of mid-2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Police officer guilty of membership of banned group and terrorism offences." 1 April 2021. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/police-officer-guilty-membership-banned-group-and-terrorism-offences + +[^2]: Counter Terrorism Policing / CPS case evidence, as reported by ITV News. "Neo-Nazi police officer Ben Hannam guilty of belonging to terror group National Action." 1 April 2021. https://www.itv.com/news/2021-04-01/neo-nazi-police-officer-ben-hannam-guilty-of-belonging-to-terror-group-national-action + +[^3]: Home Office. "Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2016." 16 December 2016; Rudd statement quoted in Crown Prosecution Service National Action case records. + +[^4]: CPS. "Former police officer jailed for National Action membership." 4 May 2021. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/former-police-officer-jailed-national-action-membership + +[^5]: UPI. "London police officer found guilty of membership in banned neo-Nazi group." 1 April 2021. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/04/01/Britain-London-Metropolitan-Police-officer-Benjamin-Hannam-convicted-recruiter-neo-Nazi/7251617294659/ + +[^6]: The National News / National World. "British policeman convicted of terrorism after neo-Nazi data breach." 2021; National World. "What is National Action?" https://www.nationalworld.com/news/crime/what-is-national-action-banned-neo-nazi-group-explained-and-when-met-police-officer-benjamin-hannam-joined-3186990 + +[^7]: HS Today. "Former Police Constable Jailed for Terrorism Offenses." 2021. https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/counterterrorism/former-police-constable-jailed-for-terrorism-offenses/; Bellingcat. "Massive White Supremacist Message Board Leak: How to Access and Interpret the Data." 6 November 2019. https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2019/11/06/massive-white-supremacist-message-board-leak-how-to-access-and-interpret-the-data/ + +[^8]: LBC. "Met Police officer in court over 'membership' of neo-Nazi group National Action." 2020. https://www.lbc.co.uk/crime/met-police-officer-national-action-benjamin-hannam/ + +[^9]: Bustle. "Met Police Officer Convicted For Far-Right Terrorism." 2021. https://www.bustle.com/life/met-police-officer-convicted-for-far-right-terrorism; Tell MAMA UK. "Neo-Nazi conviction is a 'unique' case." 2021. https://tellmamauk.org/neo-nazi-conviction-is-a-unique-case/ + +[^10]: R v Hannam, Sentencing Remarks, Central Criminal Court, 4 May 2021. Judge Anthony Leonard QC. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/R-v-Hannam-Setencing-Remarks.pdf; https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/r-v-hannam-sentencing-remarks/ + +[^11]: NBC News. "British police officer Ben Hannam jailed for joining neo-Nazi terror group." 30 April 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/british-police-officer-ben-hannam-jailed-joining-neo-nazi-terror-n1265927 + +[^12]: PinkNews. "Met Police officer jailed for membership of banned Neo-nazi terror group." 30 April 2021. https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/04/30/met-police-officer-bejamin-hannam-neo-nazi-terror-group-national-action/ + +[^13]: Salten News / Emergency Services Times. "Met Police kicks out neo-Nazi officer Benjamin Hannam, 22, after terror conviction." April 2021. + +[^14]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Co-founder of right-wing terror group convicted." May 2022. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/co-founder-right-wing-terror-group-convicted + +[^15]: HMICFRS. "An inspection of vetting, misconduct, and misogyny in the police service." 2022. https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/publication-html/an-inspection-of-vetting-misconduct-and-misogyny-in-the-police-service/ + +[^16]: Metropolitan Police. "Met continues drive to raise standards following historical vetting review [Operation Jorica]." January 2026. https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-continues-drive-to-raise-standards-following-historical-vetting-review-504908; Metropolitan Police. "Operation Jorica Report." London Assembly, January 2026. https://www.london.gov.uk/moderngovmb/documents/s84725/06a%20-%20MPS%20Operation_Jorica_Report%20-%20January_2026.pdf + +[^17]: London Assembly. "Met Police Officers and Banned Far-Right Groups (1)." 2021. https://london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/met-police-officers-and-banned-far-right-groups-1; London Assembly. "Met Police Officers and Banned Far-Right Groups (2)." 2021. https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/met-police-officers-and-banned-far-right-groups-2 + +[^18]: Hansard, HC Deb, 13 July 2021, "Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism." https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-07-13/debates/673D4D8F-D90C-450B-B7E8-26B63018E5D3/PreventionAndSuppressionOfTerrorism; HOPE not hate. "Order of Nine Angles: An Incubator of Terrorism." State of Hate 2020. https://hopenothate.org.uk/chapter/order-of-nine-angles-an-incubator-of-terrorism/ + +[^19]: O9A. "Insight Roles: A Guide." In *Hostia: Secret Teachings of the O.N.A.*, Vol. I. 1992. Archived at o9a.org. + +[^20]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-SDNY. "Former U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced To 45 Years In Prison For Attempting To Murder Fellow Service Members In Deadly Ambush." March 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-us-army-soldier-sentenced-45-years-prison-attempting-murder-fellow-service; Prosecution sentencing memorandum, United States v. Melzer, S1 20 Cr. 314 (SDNY), cited in Courthouse News Service. + +[^21]: DOJ USAO-EDNY. "Leader of White Supremacist Group Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Make Death Threats Against Journalist." September 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/leader-white-supremacist-group-pleads-guilty-conspiring-make-death-threats-against; United States v. Welker, 1:23-cr-00141 (E.D.N.Y.). diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Bill Moser.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Bill Moser.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2e5a1b82 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Bill Moser.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +category: "Law Enforcement & Legal" +tags: + - Person + - FBI + - AtomwaffenDivision + - FBIInformant + - USA + - SouthCarolina +summary: "Bill Moser is the FBI Special Agent at the Columbia, South Carolina field office who served as Joshua Caleb Sutter's primary handler throughout the Atomwaffen Division infiltration." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +location: "Columbia, South Carolina" +--- + +Bill Moser is an [[FBI]] Special Agent assigned to the [[FBI Columbia Field Office]] in [[Columbia, South Carolina]] who served as the primary handler for paid informant [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] during the [[FBI]] investigation into [[Atomwaffen Division]]. + +### Identification in Trial Testimony + +Moser was identified by name through Sutter's own testimony at the September 2021 trial of [[Kaleb Cole]] in [[United States v. Shea et al.]], 2:20-cr-00032 ([[Western District of Washington|W.D. Wash.]], Judge [[John C. Coughenour]]). Sutter testified that "on the direction of his FBI handler, Special Agent Bill Moser of the Columbia, South Carolina, field office, Sutter became part of the underground militant group," referring to [[Atomwaffen Division]].[^1] This testimony was corroborated in the reporting of journalist [[Ali Winston]], drawing on trial transcripts.[^1] + +No additional information about Moser, his rank, tenure, other cases, or supervisory chain within the Columbia office, has been confirmed in publicly available sources. Former and current FBI agents from the Columbia field office either did not recall Sutter or declined comment when asked by journalists.[^2] + +### Operational Direction + +According to Sutter's trial testimony, Moser directed Sutter to join Atomwaffen Division from his existing position within [[Tempel ov Blood]] and the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) network. Moser's direction encompassed Sutter attending the [[2018 AWD Death Valley Hate Camp]] (February 2018) and the [[2019 AWD Nuclear Congress]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] (September 2019). Rolling Stone reported that FBI funds were used to cover member travel and lodging for the Las Vegas gathering.[^1] + +Moser's field office began an intensified payment period to Sutter specifically from February 7, 2018, the start of the documented $78,133.20 payment tranche that "almost entirely coincides with his work on the investigation into Mr. Cole" per the Cole defense motion.[^3] This payment timeline places Moser's direction of the AWD infiltration operation within a window bookended by the February 2018 Hate Camp and the September 2019 Nuclear Congress. + +### What Is Not in the Record + +No public document addresses whether Moser was aware of, authorized, or attempted to restrict Sutter's operation of [[Martinet Press]] during the informant relationship. The FBI declined to comment on this question when approached by journalists. Moser himself is not on record addressing the publishing activities. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Winston, Ali. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers," *Rolling Stone,* 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ Corroborated by trial testimony: United States v. Shea et al., 2:20-cr-00032 (W.D. Wash., September 2021). DocumentCloud doc 22056395: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22056395-trial-testimony-of-joshua-sutter/ + +[^2]: Yahoo News / USA TODAY. "He publishes books on satanism and torture to inspire neo-Nazis. The FBI has paid him $140,000." 2021. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/publishes-books-satanism-torture-inspire-130243921.html + +[^3]: Motion to Suppress, United States v. Shea et al., 2:20-cr-00032 (W.D. Wash.), August 13, 2021. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/kaleb-cole-august-13-2021-motion-to-suppress-1 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Christopher Jackson (Baltimore CHS).md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Christopher Jackson (Baltimore CHS).md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3a1b0126 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Christopher Jackson (Baltimore CHS).md @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +--- +category: "Law Enforcement & Legal" +tags: + - Person + - FBI + - FBIInformant + - FederalCase + - InfrastructureAttack + - AtomwaffenDivision + - BrandonRussell + - USA + - Maryland +summary: "Christopher Jackson is the FBI confidential human source designated CHS-1 in the 2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy case, whose testimony was central to Brandon Russell's 2025 conviction and whose undisclosed pre-testimony payment became the basis for Russell's denied new-trial motion." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +location: "United States" +--- + +Christopher Jackson is the [[FBI]] [[confidential human source]] (CHS) designated CHS-1 in the [[2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy]] case, [[United States v. Russell, 1:23-cr-00029 (D. Md.)]]. Jackson, who worked professionally as a researcher specializing in extremism and domestic terrorism, was recruited into FBI informant work through an agent acquaintance and had been operating across multiple FBI investigations before his contact with [[Brandon Russell]] in 2022. Jackson is identified by pseudonym in court filings; his full identity was withheld from the defense under a September 2024 witness disguise ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge [[James K. Bredar]]. + +### Role in the Baltimore Investigation + +In June 2022, Jackson made contact with Russell through invite-only neo-Nazi [[Telegram]] channels in which both were participating. Over the following months, Jackson developed a relationship with Russell in which Russell disclosed infrastructure attack plans, distributed propaganda materials, and attempted to recruit Jackson into the [[National Socialist Resistance Front]] (NSRF) as a prospective member, telling Jackson that prospective members included individuals from Maryland and the Carolinas. Jackson also communicated with [[Sarah Beth Clendaniel]], capturing evidence of her operational planning including the January 29, 2023 recorded conversation in which she described the five [[Baltimore Gas and Electric]] (BGE) substation targets and stated the simultaneous attack "would permanently completely lay this city to waste." + +Jackson served as the government's primary live witness. He and a second confidential human source (CHS-2) were the main witnesses who could place Russell and Clendaniel in the operational planning conversations. + +### Testimony and the Payment Dispute + +Jackson testified at Russell's trial on January 29, 2025. In his testimony, he disclosed that he had received FBI compensation of "about $70,000," comprising approximately $40,000 in direct payments and $30,000 in reimbursements for plane tickets and travel expenses across several investigations. + +On January 27, 2025 (the day jury selection occurred, two days before Jackson testified), the government paid Jackson an additional $7,180.11. The [[Department of Justice]] did not disclose this payment until March 19, 2025, six weeks after Russell's February 4, 2025 conviction. Jackson's total compensation across all FBI informant work was thus approximately $80,000. + +Russell subsequently moved for a new trial, arguing Jackson committed perjury by understating his total compensation and that the non-disclosure of the final payment before testimony violated [[Brady v. Maryland]]. Bredar denied the motion on April 29, 2025, finding the error "unfortunate" and the payment timing raising "some concern" but insufficient to undermine the verdict given the limited scope of Jackson's testimony, corroborating evidence, and the jury's awareness of his prior disclosed compensation.[^1] + +### Witness Disguise Ruling + +Jackson testified under a court-ordered "light disguise" (altered facial features or hairstyle), using a pseudonym, and the courtroom was partially closed during his testimony. The overflow room received audio and video. Bredar issued the disguise ruling in September 2024 after finding that Russell and his sympathizers posed an "unusually heightened threat of danger" to witnesses cooperating with the government. + +Jackson's true identity was withheld from Russell's defense team under the ruling, a decision Russell's attorney [[Ian Goldstein]] characterized as "a huge impediment to investigating and presenting a defense."[^2] + +### Parallel to the Sutter/Cole Pattern + +The Jackson case is structurally parallel to the informant-disclosure issues in [[United States v. Shea et al. (2020)]], the [[Kaleb Cole]] prosecution where [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]]'s paid informant status was not disclosed in the original affidavit. In both cases, the government acknowledged a disclosure failure regarding informant payments, the defense argued the omission was material to credibility, and the presiding judge denied suppression or new trial relief, finding the omission legally insufficient to undermine the conviction. The Russell/Jackson case is the most recent documented instance of an AWD-network prosecution producing an informant-payment disclosure controversy, and it resulted in the same outcome as Cole: conviction upheld, motion denied. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: The Daily Record. "Neo-Nazi who plotted to destroy BGE substations denied new trial." May 2, 2025. https://thedailyrecord.com/2025/05/02/neo-nazi-baltimore-substation-trial-denial/; NBC News. "Neo-Nazi leader among 2 arrested in plot to attack Baltimore's power grid." February 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fbi-arrests-2-suspects-accused-planning-attack-baltimore-power-grid-rcna69324 + +[^2]: U.S. District Court, D. Md. Opinion re: Witness Disguise, Case No. 23-0056. September 2024. https://www2.mdd.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Opinions/23-0056%20Russell%20Opinion%20re%20witness%20disguise.pdf; Reuters / Newsweek. "Neo-Nazi Leader Sentenced to 20 Years for Plot to Sabotage Baltimore Power Grid." August 7, 2025. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-08-07/neo-nazi-leader-sentenced-to-20-years-for-plot-to-sabotage-baltimore-power-grid diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Dallas Humber.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Dallas Humber.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..96125993 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Dallas Humber.md @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - FederalCase + - California + - USA + - TerroristConviction +summary: "Dallas Humber is an Elk Grove, California woman who led the Terrorgram Collective's inner circle from July 2022, was charged in a 15-count indictment under case number 2:24-cr-00257 in the Eastern District of California, pleaded guilty to all counts on August 8, 2025, and was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on December 19, 2025." +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 1990 +location: "Elk Grove, California" +--- + +[[Dallas Humber]] (born approximately 1990, [[Elk Grove, California]]) led the inner core of the [[Terrorgram Collective]] from approximately July 2022 until her arrest on September 5, 2024, describing her own role as guiding "disaffected young white men through the end of the radicalization process." She was arrested by the [[FBI]] alongside co-leader [[Matthew Robert Allison]], charged under case number [[United States v. Humber|2:24-cr-00257]] in the [[Eastern District of California]], pleaded guilty to all 15 counts on August 8, 2025, and was sentenced to 360 months (30 years) in federal prison by U.S. District Judge [[Dena Coggins]] on December 19, 2025, with a lifetime supervised release term.[^1] [[Attorney General]] [[Pamela Bondi]]'s [[DOJ]] announced the sentence as a landmark in the prosecution of transnational online terrorist networks. + +### Leadership of the Inner Collective + +Humber assumed leadership of Terrorgram's inner operational circle in July 2022 following the May 2022 arrest of co-founder [[Pavol Beňadik]] in Slovakia. Under her direction, the inner collective produced *The Hard Reset: A Terrorgram Production* (261 pp., July 2022), the network's most operationally specific publication. + +Humber's operational approach went beyond publishing. She maintained direct personal contact with individuals she identified as candidates for violence, directing them through the radicalization pipeline she described in her own terms. Court documents indicate she had communicated in October 2022 with a [[Telegram]] user planning a racially motivated school attack in Brazil, one month before [[Gabriel Castiglioni]] carried out the [[Aracruz school shootings]] on November 25, 2022, killing four students and wounding eleven. DOJ prosecutors attributed the Aracruz attack to her guidance as one of seven attacks or plots "inspired or guided by" her leadership.[^1] + +Prosecutors also alleged that after her arrest in September 2024 and while held in pretrial detention, Humber continued attempting to communicate with and groom potential attackers from within the detention facility. This post-arrest conduct was noted in sentencing proceedings. + +### Federal Indictment: Count Breakdown + +The 37-page indictment, filed September 5, 2024 and unsealed September 9, 2024, charged Humber and Allison jointly on all 15 counts. The counts, as described in DOJ press releases and confirmed by public docket records for case 2:24-cr-00257, were: + +Count 1: Conspiracy. Counts 2-5: Four counts of soliciting hate crimes (targeting individuals on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity). Counts 6-8: Three counts of soliciting the murder of federal officials. Counts 9-11: Three counts of doxing federal officials (publishing private identifying information with intent to threaten). Count 12: One count of threatening communications (interstate). Counts 13-14: Two counts of distributing bombmaking instructions and information relating to destructive devices. Count 15: Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, under 18 U.S.C. § 2339A. + +The material support count (Count 15) was the most legally significant: 18 U.S.C. § 2339A applies to providing material support "knowing or intending" that it will be used in connection with specific terrorism offenses. Its companion statute, § 2339B, is restricted to designated [[Foreign Terrorist Organizations]] and cannot reach purely domestic actors. The decision to charge under 2339A rather than 2339B reflected both the domestic nature of Humber and Allison's activities and the fact that Terrorgram had not yet received a formal FTO designation (only the subsequent SDGT designation in January 2025). [[Lawfare]] analysts described this as a significant, if not entirely novel, use of the provision against an online white-supremacist content operation.[^2] + +Combined maximum exposure across all 15 counts was 220 years. + +### Specific Conduct Cited by Prosecutors + +The indictment and subsequent DOJ press releases described specific conduct beyond general propaganda operation: + +Infrastructure incitement: On approximately December 26, 2022, Humber posted images of electrical substation transformer components with the notation "for educational purposes only of course." On or about January 20, 2023, following the Randolph County, North Carolina [[EnergyUnited]] substation shooting of January 17, 2023 (which caused approximately $250,000 in damage), Humber posted a link to a news article about the attack and stated: "It seems as though this avenue of attack, an incredibly effective one at that, has really caught on. I like to think that all our hard work in detailing its effectiveness and showing our community how easy it is not only to do but to get away with, has helped encourage this." Prosecutors presented this post as evidence that she actively encouraged the replication of infrastructure attacks.[^3] + +Brazil pre-attack contact: In October 2022, Humber communicated via Telegram with a user who stated he was planning a racially motivated school shooting in Brazil. One month later, on November 25, 2022, [[Gabriel Castiglioni]] (16) attacked two schools in [[Aracruz, Brazil]], killing four students and wounding eleven, wearing a swastika patch. DOJ prosecutors attributed the Aracruz attack to Humber's guidance as one of seven attacks or plots "inspired or guided by" her leadership. + +Wisconsin murder-for-hire plot: Among the seven attacks attributed to Humber by DOJ, one involved a Wisconsin plot to murder two individuals as part of a broader scheme to assassinate a federal official. The specific targets and co-conspirators in that plot were not publicly identified in DOJ press releases. + +### Arrest and Conviction + +The FBI arrested Humber on September 5, 2024, in a coordinated operation. She and Allison were charged in the 15-count federal indictment described above. The prosecution was handled jointly by the [[Civil Rights Division]] of DOJ, the [[National Security Division]] of DOJ, and the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California]]. + +Humber's change-of-plea hearing was set for August 8, 2025; she entered guilty pleas to all 15 counts at that hearing. On December 19, 2025, Judge Coggins sentenced her to 30 years (360 months) in federal prison plus lifetime supervised release. The 30-year sentence is the longest imposed on any Terrorgram Collective member in any jurisdiction and exceeded even the 20 years later given to co-founder [[Matthew Althorpe]] by Canada's Ontario Superior Court in March 2026.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leader of Transnational Terrorist Group Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Soliciting Hate Crimes and Murder, and Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists." December 19, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-transnational-terrorist-group-sentenced-30-years-prison-soliciting-hate-crimes-and; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDCA. Sentencing press release. December 19, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/leader-transnational-terrorist-group-sentenced-30-years-prison-soliciting-hate-crimes +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged with Soliciting Hate Crimes, Soliciting the Murder of Federal Officials, and Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists." September 9, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/leaders-transnational-terrorist-group-charged-soliciting-hate-crimes-soliciting-murder; Lawfare. "Why the Terrorgram Collective Designation Matters." January 2025. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/why-the-terrorgram-collective-designation-matters +[^3]: Fox 8 / WGHP. "'Terrorgram' leaders Dallas Humber, Matthew Allison referenced North Carolina EnergyUnited substation shooting, court documents show." September 2024. https://myfox8.com/news/storylines/power-grid-attack/indicted-terrorgram-neo-nazi-cited-randolph-county-substation-attack-court-documents-show-this-avenue-of-attack-has-really-caught-on/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/David Myatt.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/David Myatt.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..06dd14b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/David Myatt.md @@ -0,0 +1,101 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - O9A + - NeoNazi + - UK + - Occultism + - Satanism + - Accelerationism + - Islam + - AntonLong + - CombatEighteen + - IntelligenceHistory +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "David Myatt is a British far-right ideologue widely attributed as the founder of the Order of Nine Angles under the pseudonym Anton Long, whose writings directly influenced the 1999 London nailbomber David Copeland, yet he was never charged with terrorism despite decades of published incitement to murder and a three-year Scotland Yard investigation." +born: 1950-11-29 +location: "Worcestershire, United Kingdom" +--- + +[[David Myatt]] is a British ideologue who spent three decades as an active participant in the neo-Nazi underground of England, serving at various points as organizer, theorist, and instigator across multiple violent far-right groups before converting to Islam in 1998 and subsequently claiming to have renounced all extremism. He is widely attributed by scholars as the primary author of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) under the pseudonym [[Anton Long]], though he has denied this identification throughout his life. His written output, produced under both his own name and the Long pseudonym, has been found in the possession of perpetrators of mass violence, cited in terrorism trials, and classified as a terrorist manual by the British government. + +### Early Life and Introduction to the Far Right + +David Wulstan Myatt was born in 1950. He grew up partly in Tanganyika (now [[Tanzania]]), where his father worked as a civil servant for the British colonial administration. The family also spent time in the Far East, where Myatt studied martial arts and, by his own account, developed an early interest in Greek, Sanskrit, logic, astronomy, and philosophy. + +Returning to England, Myatt became involved in neo-Nazi politics while still in secondary school. By the late 1960s he was a member of [[Colin Jordan]]'s [[British Movement]], one of the leading neo-Nazi organizations in Britain at the time. He remained in the British Movement until approximately 1974, when he broke with Jordan and co-founded a splinter organization. + +### Criminal Record: 1970s Convictions + +The earliest documented criminal record for Myatt relates to violent racial attacks in the early 1970s while he was active in the neo-Nazi movement in [[Leeds, England]]. Two separate terms of imprisonment have been documented from this period. + +The first arose from a "Paki-bashing" incident in which Myatt led a gang of skinheads in a racially motivated violent attack. He was identified as the gang leader and sentenced to imprisonment. The second term followed from activities connected to his co-founding of the [[National Democratic Freedom Movement]] (NDFM) with [[Eddy Morrison]] in late 1973 or early 1974. Police from the [[Yorkshire Regional Crime Squad]] raided Myatt's attic flat in Leeds and arrested him along with three other gang members. Myatt and Morrison were held on remand because investigators believed they would intimidate witnesses. The NDFM is described in published accounts as a "notoriously violent group" whose activities ended when Myatt was jailed. No BAILII entry for these cases has been located in open-source search, consistent with the fact that Crown Court records from the early 1970s predate BAILII's systematic coverage.[^1] + +### Combat 18 and the National Socialist Movement + +After a period of reduced public visibility, Myatt re-emerged in the British neo-Nazi scene in the early 1990s, becoming active in paramilitary and neo-Nazi circles including [[Column 88]] and [[Combat 18]]. The [[Observer]] newspaper later identified him as the "ideological heavyweight" behind Combat 18, a neo-Nazi group with documented links to murders and serious violence in Britain and continental Europe.[^2] [[Nick Lowles]] characterises him in *White Riot* as "one of Britain's foremost post-war national socialist thinkers."[^3] + +The split that created the [[National Socialist Movement (UK, 1997)]] emerged directly from the [[Charlie Sargent]] murder crisis. In early 1997, ITV's [[World in Action]] programme claimed that Sargent, then on remand for murder, had acted as a paid informant for the police. While Sargent was disowned by part of the C18 rank and file, his brother [[Steve Sargent]] remained loyal and, together with Myatt, led approximately fifty like-minded members away from C18 to found the NSM in June 1997. Steve Sargent served as the NSM's propaganda director and produced its magazine, *White Dragon*. David Myatt was the NSM's first leader.[^3] + +Myatt resigned as NSM leader in March 1998 following his [[Metropolitan Police Service]] SO12 counter-terrorism arrest (see below). He was succeeded by [[Tony Williams]], a former member of the [[International Third Position]]. Under Williams's leadership, the NSM recruited [[David Copeland]] in early 1999. Copeland, then living in [[Fleet, Hampshire]], was appointed NSM Southern Regional Organiser. A letter from Williams welcomed him "into leadership, responsibility and accountability to your comrades."[^4] + +In 1998, while serving as NSM leader, Myatt called publicly for "the creation of racial terror with bombs," a statement documented by the BBC's *Panorama* programme.[^5] During this period, Myatt wrote "[[A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution]]," a text the British government subsequently classified as a terrorist manual. + +### The SO12 Investigation and Non-Prosecution + +In February 1998, detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service's SO12 counter-terrorism branch raided Myatt's home in [[Worcestershire]] and removed computers and files. He was arrested on suspicion of incitement to murder and incitement to racial hatred in connection with his posting of "A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution" on a website operated by [[Bernard Klatt]] in British Columbia, Canada, in November 1997. The case was referred to [[Interpol]], the [[FBI]], and Canadian police services for a three-year international investigation. It was eventually dropped because the evidence supplied by the Canadian authorities was assessed as insufficient to secure a conviction.[^4] + +The question of why Myatt was never prosecuted for terrorism is not fully answered in the public record. The documented facts are: (a) he published texts classified as terrorism manuals; (b) one of those texts was found in the possession of a man who killed three people; (c) he was investigated for incitement to murder and incitement to racial hatred in 1998 but the case was dropped; (d) he published explicit calls for "racial terror with bombs" while NSM leader; (e) his former organisation, Combat 18, was proscribed in 2020 under S.I. 2020/200; (f) O9A, attributed to him as Anton Long, was not proscribed in the UK as of mid-2026 despite members being convicted of terrorism offences. No official explanation for the absence of terrorism prosecution has been published.[^6] + +### David Copeland and the "Practical Guide" + +Copeland obtained and studied Myatt's "A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution," which he had downloaded from the internet. A copy was found in his flat by police after the bombings. The document contained chapter headings including "Assassination," "Terror Bombing," and "Racial War" and, according to [[Michael Whine]] of the [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]], "provided a detailed step-by-step guide for terrorist insurrection with advice on assassination targets, rationale for bombing and sabotage campaigns, and rules of engagement."[^7] + +Copeland detonated three nail bombs in London between 17 and 30 April 1999, targeting the [[Brixton]] Black community market, [[Brick Lane]]'s Bangladeshi community, and the [[Admiral Duncan pub]] in Soho. Three people died at the Admiral Duncan: [[John Light]], [[Nick Moore]], and [[Andrea Dykes]] together with her unborn child. 139 people were injured across the three attacks. Copeland was convicted on 30 June 2000 at the Old Bailey of three counts of murder and three charges of planting bombs and sentenced to six life terms. In March 2007, the High Court set his minimum tariff at 50 years.[^8] + +[[Searchlight Magazine]] and BBC *Panorama* conducted a joint investigation that documented the links between Copeland and the NSM and the extent to which he had been influenced by Myatt's writings. Despite this documented chain from Myatt's published text to Copeland's stated motivation to three deaths, no charges against Myatt arose from the Copeland case. His February 1998 investigation had already been dropped by the time the bombs were placed in April 1999.[^4] + +### The Order of Nine Angles and Anton Long + +Scholars who have studied O9A in depth almost uniformly attribute the Anton Long pseudonym to Myatt. The argument rests on several independent lines of evidence. First, the anti-fascist magazine [[Searchlight Magazine]] identified Myatt as Anton Long in 1998, at a point when no sophisticated counter-narrative had been constructed. Second, the philosophical concepts shared between Myatt's neo-Nazi writings and O9A texts are highly specific and numerous, including the concept of an "acausal" realm, a theory of history organized into distinct "aeons," advocacy for space colonization as a long-term racial project, and the design and rules of "the [[Star Game]]." Third, both bodies of work emerged from the same West Midlands and Welsh Marches neo-Nazi milieu in the 1970s, the documented time and place of O9A's formation. Fourth, Myatt's writing style under his own name is consistent with the long prose of Anton Long's O9A texts in ways that stylometric analysis has reinforced.[^9] + +The scholarly consensus as of 2026 is that Myatt authored the O9A corpus under the pseudonym Anton Long, though this has not been established in a legal proceeding. The evidentiary trajectory is significant: early attributions (Searchlight, April 1998) were dismissed as unsubstantiated; mid-period scholarly work by [[Jacob C. Senholt]] (thesis, 2013) contributed the most rigorous stylometric and biographical evidence; and in 2016, sociologist of religion [[Massimo Introvigne]] noted that in the face of Senholt's and others' evidence, O9A itself had "more or less acknowledged that 'Anton Long' was a 'nom de plume' of Myatt."[^9] That quasi-admission from the organisation itself is the strongest available piece of evidence short of a direct confession, since it is the one concession O9A had persistently refused to make for decades. + +Scholars Introvigne, [[Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke]], [[Clive Henry]], Senholt, and [[Andrew G. Palella]] all conclude Myatt is Long. [[Jeffrey Kaplan]]'s 1998 position (separate individuals) was softened in his 2000 writing and has not been the majority scholarly view for some time.[^9] + +The detailed ideological content of O9A, including the Seven Fold Way, Insight Roles, and the nexion structure, is documented in the [[Order of Nine Angles]] vault entry. + +### Conversion to Islam: Documented Details + +Myatt converted to Islam at [[Jamia Masjid Ghousia]] in Worcester on 6 September 1998, with his Shahadah witnessed by Hafiz Mohammad Tufail and Qadi Abdur Sa'ouf. He subsequently attended prayers at mosques in Worcestershire for many years. As a Muslim he operated under two documented pseudonyms: Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt and Abdul al-Qari. He travelled and spoke in Arab countries and wrote what is characterised as one of the most detailed defences in the English language of Islamic suicide operations. He expressed support for [[Osama bin Laden]] and the [[Taliban]], described the Holocaust as a "hoax," and argued that the jihadist distinction between Muslims and unbelievers superseded racial categories.[^10] + +At a [[UNESCO]] conference on antisemitism in Paris in 2003, researchers stated that Myatt "has converted to Islam, praises bin Laden and al Qaeda, calls the 9/11 attacks 'acts of heroism,' and urges the killing of Jews."[^10] He continued contact with former neo-Nazi associates during this period and advocated ideological alliances between neo-Nazis and Islamists, a position consistent with both his Nazi and Islamist frameworks. + +British intelligence monitored Myatt during the Islamic period, according to multiple secondary accounts, but no prosecution or restriction order arose from that monitoring.[^2] + +### The "Numinous Way" and Claimed Renunciation + +Myatt's departure from Islam and extremism is best characterised as gradual. His July 2010 autobiography *Myngath* contained content that did not clearly renounce his Muslim identity. A post on his Islamist weblog in September 2010 re-affirmed Muslim identity even while doubts were developing. By 2011, he had fully articulated what he called the "Numinous Way" (or *pathei-mathos* philosophy), an apolitical personal framework centred on empathy, humility, and what he terms the "numinous." He has lived as a private individual in rural England since approximately 2010-2011 and maintains an active personal blog at davidmyatt.wordpress.com, with posts documented as recently as March 2026.[^11] + +Researchers and law enforcement officials have treated this claimed renunciation with skepticism, noting that O9A texts continued to circulate under the Anton Long name during and after this period, and that Myatt offered no explanation for the O9A authorship question consistent with an innocent reading. The [[Counter Extremism Project]] listed Myatt as one of the twenty most dangerous extremists in the world as of 2021, on the basis that his published writings continue to circulate and influence violent actors.[^12] + +### Documented Influence + +Regardless of whether Myatt authored the O9A corpus, his documented writings under his own name have been found in the possession of perpetrators of political violence across multiple countries and decades. The specific mechanisms of influence include: direct circulation of his neo-Nazi essays through Combat 18 and NSM channels; the distribution of "A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution"; and, if the attribution to Anton Long is accepted, the entire O9A theological and initiatory structure, including the Insight Roles doctrine, that subsequently shaped [[Atomwaffen Division]], [[Tempel ov Blood]], and the broader radicalization pipeline running through [[Terrorgram]] into the [[764 Network|764]] ecosystem. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Notes From The Borderland (Larry O'Hara). "Combat 18 and MI5: Some Background Notes." borderland.co.uk. Confirmed: Darren Wells (McKenzie) as the documented Special Branch informant; the NDFM period and Myatt's imprisonment confirmed in Eddy Morrison obituary, Heritage and Destiny, 2020. +[^2]: The Observer (UK). Referenced in: Counter Extremism Project. "Order of Nine Angles." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/order-nine-angles +[^3]: Lowles, Nick. *White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18.* Milo Books, 2001. +[^4]: Searchlight Magazine. "25 years on: The hunt for the London nailbomber," April 2024. https://searchlightmagazine.com/2024/04/25-years-on-the-hunt-for-the-london-nailbomber/; Internet Archive, "A Short Biography of David Myatt," ia600102.us.archive.org. +[^5]: BBC *Panorama*. 1998 broadcast. Referenced in: Religion Media Centre. "Factsheet: The Order of Nine Angles." https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/factsheets/factsheet-nine-angles/ +[^6]: Hansard, HC Deb, 13 July 2021, "Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism." https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-07-13/debates/673D4D8F-D90C-450B-B7E8-26B63018E5D3/PreventionAndSuppressionOfTerrorism +[^7]: Whine, Michael, Board of Deputies of British Jews. Quoted in multiple secondary accounts of the 1998 arrest. +[^8]: 1999 London nail bombings sentencing; High Court minimum tariff March 2007. PinkNews, "Soho bomber David Copeland loses appeal over sentence," July 2011. https://www.thepinknews.com/2011/07/01/soho-bomber-david-copeland-loses-appeal-over-sentence/ +[^9]: Introvigne, Massimo. *Satanism: A Social History.* Brill, 2016; Tandfonline. "David Myatt's Imagined Emotionology, his Striving for Authentic Aryan Emotional Communities, and the Dishonourable Wulstan Tedder." 2024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14631180.2024.2319484 +[^10]: UNESCO Paris conference 2003 statement; "Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt" conversion details. en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/9913622 (used as roadmap; primary source cited therein is UNESCO conference record). +[^11]: David Myatt blog, davidmyatt.wordpress.com. Most recent post retrieved: March 2026. +[^12]: Counter Extremism Project. "Order of Nine Angles." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/order-nine-angles diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ethan Phelan Melzer.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ethan Phelan Melzer.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a0879be6 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ethan Phelan Melzer.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - O9A + - RapeWaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - DomesticTerrorism + - Military + - FederalCase + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Ethan Phelan Melzer was a U.S. Army paratrooper and O9A member who in 2020 leaked his unit's classified deployment information to a believed ISIS-connected contact to enable a lethal attack on his platoon, sentenced to 45 years in federal prison." +location: "United States" +--- + +[[Ethan Phelan Melzer]] was a soldier in the [[U.S. Army]] assigned to the [[173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team]] based in [[Vicenza, Italy]], and a member of both [[Atomwaffen Division]] and the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A), who in 2020 transmitted sensitive military information about his unit's troop strength, locations, and vulnerabilities to an undercover [[FBI]] operative he believed was an O9A contact who would relay the information to [[ISIS]] for use in a lethal attack on Melzer's own platoon. He was convicted of terrorism-related charges and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, one of the longest sentences imposed on an AWD-affiliated individual and the most significant case establishing O9A's practical connection to military penetration.[^1] + +### O9A Membership and AWD Connection + +Melzer was an active member of the O9A's online community, participating in forums and channels associated with the organization's occultist accelerationist ideology. His specific O9A nexion was the [[RapeWaffen Division]], a Telegram-based channel combining neo-Nazi accelerationist branding with O9A's doctrine that rape and murder are instruments of ideological warfare. Melzer used the alias "Etil Reggad" within the RapeWaffen Division channel, and described himself as having "already self-initiated" into O9A before joining. His simultaneous AWD affiliation reflected the degree to which O9A and AWD had merged into an overlapping ideological community following [[Tempel ov Blood]]'s infiltration of AWD's leadership in 2017. O9A's [[Insight Roles]] doctrine explicitly instructs initiates to commit real criminal acts as a form of spiritual progression, and joining the military or law enforcement for purposes of sabotage or facilitated attack is a recognized category within that framework.[^1] + +### The 2020 Plot + +In 2020, while deployed or preparing for deployment with the 173rd Airborne, Melzer made contact through O9A channels with an individual he believed was a fellow O9A member with connections to Islamic State operatives. That individual was an undercover FBI operative. Over the course of their communications, Melzer provided detailed information about his unit's personnel strength, planned movements, defensive vulnerabilities, and patrol schedules. The classified material included unit locations, personnel strength, troop movements, defensive capabilities, and satellite imagery. He characterized the planned attack in O9A terms as an Insight Role: a transgressive act generating spiritual advancement through the facilitation of mass death among fellow soldiers. + +The stated purpose of providing this information was to enable ISIS to plan and execute an attack that would kill members of Melzer's platoon. The indictment described the planned operation as a "mascal" (mass casualty) event to be executed by a combination of O9A members and Al-Qaeda-affiliated operatives.[^2] + +### Case Number and Court + +The case was filed in the [[Southern District of New York]] as United States v. Melzer, 1:20-cr-00314-GHW. The presiding judge was [[U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods]], an Obama appointee. The prosecution was handled by the SDNY [[National Security Unit]].[^3] + +### Charges in the Superseding Indictment + +The grand jury returned a superseding indictment (S1 20 Cr. 314) on August 18, 2020 charging eight counts. The eight-count structure included: conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals abroad ([[18 U.S.C. § 956]](a)); attempting to murder U.S. service members (18 U.S.C. § 1114); providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists ([[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]]); and illegal transmission of national defense information (18 U.S.C. § 793(d)). In October 2020, Judge Woods denied Melzer's initial motions, and a trial date was set for July 5, 2022, but Melzer pleaded guilty before trial.[^3] + +The superseding indictment designated two co-conspirators as CC-1 and CC-2. CC-1 was described in court filings as a UK-based O9A contact who communicated with Melzer via Telegram and who relayed Melzer's unit intelligence to CC-2. On May 17, 2020, CC-1 asked Melzer whether he had arrived in Turkey; when Melzer confirmed he was "getting ready to go," CC-1 responded that CC-2 "needs to know, he has plans... inshallah my brother, allahu akbar." No UK co-conspirator was publicly charged in an open-court proceeding as of 2026.[^2] + +### Arrest and Guilty Plea + +Melzer was arrested by the FBI in June 2020 before any attack could occur. Melzer pleaded guilty on June 24, 2022, to three of the eight superseding counts: (1) attempting to murder U.S. service members, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1114 and 2; (2) providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2339A and 2; and (3) illegally transmitting national defense information, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 793(d) and 2. The material support count (§ 2339A) is significant because it did not require the government to designate a foreign terrorist organization as the beneficiary, only to prove Melzer knowingly provided support to someone he knew would use it to prepare or carry out an offense against U.S. nationals.[^1] + +### Sentencing + +Judge Woods sentenced Melzer on March 6, 2023 to 45 years in federal prison, the maximum available on the three counts. At sentencing, Melzer stated he was "a traitor against the United States whose conduct was tantamount to treason." Judge Woods called his crimes "repugnant." The sentence was the heaviest imposed on any AWD or O9A-affiliated defendant. The case was cited by [[Europol]] and the [[CTC West Point]] in subsequent analyses of O9A's documented penetration of military institutions.[^4] + +### Second Circuit Appeal + +Melzer appealed the sentence. The [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] affirmed the 45-year sentence in a ruling filed in November 2024, docket 23-6247-cr.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. Press Release and attached indictment summary, June 2020. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-army-soldier-charged-terrorism-offenses-planning-deadly-ambush-service-members-his; Vice News. "US Soldier Jailed for Satanic Neo-Nazi Plot to Kill Troops in Al Qaeda Attack." 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/order-of-nine-angles-neo-nazi-ethan-melzer-arrest/ + +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-SDNY. "Former U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced To 45 Years In Prison For Attempting To Murder Fellow Service Members In Deadly Ambush." Press Release, March 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-us-army-soldier-sentenced-45-years-prison-attempting-murder-fellow-service + +[^3]: United States v. Melzer, 1:20-cr-00314-GHW (S.D.N.Y.). Superseding indictment S1 20 Cr. 314, returned August 18, 2020. CourtListener docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17286246/united-states-v-melzer/ + +[^4]: ABC News. "US Soldier Ethan Melzer, Described as 'the Enemy Within,' Sentenced for Jihadist Plot." March 3, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/US/us-soldier-ethan-melzer-enemy-sentenced-jihadist-plot/story?id=97616439; CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ + +[^5]: United States v. Melzer, No. 23-6247-cr (2d Cir. 2024). Courthouse News: https://www.courthousenews.com/circuit-upholds-45-year-sentence-for-army-soldier-who-plotted-satanic-neo-nazi-ambush/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/James Mason.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/James Mason.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8dbb3864 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/James Mason.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - SiegeCulture + - Accelerationism + - NSLF + - AtomwaffenDivision + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "James Mason is an American neo-Nazi ideologue whose collected essays Siege (1992) became the foundational accelerationist text for Atomwaffen Division and the broader 'siege culture' movement after being rediscovered and popularized on the Iron March forum in 2015." +born: 1952 +location: "United States" +--- + +[[James Mason]] is an American neo-Nazi ideologue whose collected newsletter essays, published as *[[Siege]]* in 1992, became the foundational accelerationist text for [[Atomwaffen Division]] and the wider "[[Siege Culture|siege culture]]" movement after lying largely dormant for two decades before being rediscovered and popularized on the [[Iron March]] neo-fascist forum in 2015. Mason's writings explicitly advocate lone-wolf terrorism and argue that the collapse of liberal democratic society can be accelerated through cascading acts of political violence. + +### Background and NSLF + +Mason served as a leader of the [[National Socialist Liberation Front]] (NSLF), which had its roots in a 1970s periodical created by [[Joseph Tommasi]]. From 1980 to 1986, Mason wrote a newsletter for the NSLF that he called *Siege*, producing essays that collectively developed an avowedly accelerationist position: that existing democratic institutions are too corrupt to be reformed and must be destroyed through terrorism, that lone-wolf attacks are preferable to group action because they are harder to infiltrate and prosecute, and that the strategic goal is to escalate societal tensions until a race war becomes unavoidable.[^1] + +### The 1992 Book + +After years of failed attempts to find a publisher, [[Michael J. Moynihan]] formed the Storm Books imprint and published Mason's collected NSLF newsletter essays as *Siege: The Collected Writings of James Mason* in 1992. Prominent white supremacist [[Tom Metzger]] praised and distributed the book, but the mainstream neo-Nazi movement of the time largely ignored or criticized it. For roughly two decades, *Siege* remained a marginal text within the far right.[^2] + +### Iron March Rediscovery and AWD + +The book's second life began in 2015, when [[Iron March]] members began promoting it aggressively. The forum's global neo-Nazi and neo-fascist membership proved receptive in ways that the American white nationalist movement of the 1990s had not been. [[Brandon Russell]] announced [[Atomwaffen Division]] on Iron March in October 2015, and the new organization adopted *Siege* as its ideological foundation. AWD's activities, aesthetics, and strategic orientation all drew directly on Mason's writings.[^2] + +Mason was personally drawn into the AWD orbit. He attended the [[2019 AWD Nuclear Congress]] in Las Vegas, AWD's internal leadership gathering organized by [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] of [[Tempel ov Blood]], delivering speeches calling for murder and lone-wolf attacks and making his first documented in-person appearance with the organization.[^3] + +### Documented Influence + +An early study of *Siege*'s influence across the post-2015 extremist landscape identified 33 extremist entities with documented ties to the book, nine of which had been involved in acts of violence, four in specific murders, and four in threats or acts of terrorism. [[Europol]] noted in 2021 that "*Siege* and Accelerationism, both with significant potential for inciting violence, were the most prominent ideologies in 2021, especially attracting young people radicalised online."[^1] + +The direct citation of *Siege* by [[Cain Clark]] in his manifesto for the [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting]] represents one of the most recent documented instances of the text's continued operational influence more than three decades after its initial publication. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ICCT. "Siege Culture After Siege: Anatomy of a Neo-Nazi Terrorist Doctrine." https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2022-12/siege-culture-neo-nazi-terrorist-doctrine.pdf +[^2]: SPLC. "James Mason." Extremist Files. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/james-mason/ +[^3]: Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jeremy Meilhac.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jeremy Meilhac.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5a9e2724 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jeremy Meilhac.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Denmark + - France + - TerroristConviction + - International +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 1995 +location: "Copenhagen area, Denmark" +summary: "Jeremy Meilhac is a French national raised in Denmark who was sentenced to six years in prison by a Danish court in April 2026 for terrorism-related offenses as a Terrorgram Collective member, becoming the first person convicted of Terrorgram-linked terrorism in Denmark, with his Danish citizenship revoked and deportation ordered." +--- + +Jeremy Meilhac (born approximately 1995/1996, French national, raised in Denmark from age two) was a core [[Terrorgram Collective]] member sentenced to six years in prison by the [[Glostrup District Court]] ([[Denmark]]) on approximately April 21, 2026 for terrorism-related offenses under Danish law, becoming the first Terrorgram conviction in Denmark and the first time a Danish court formally labeled Terrorgram a terrorist organization.[^1] He was also stripped of his Danish citizenship and ordered expelled from Denmark following the sentence, the first such citizenship revocation in a Danish terrorism proceeding connected to the Terrorgram network. The verdict has been appealed to the [[Danish High Court]].[^2] + +### Terrorgram Activities + +Meilhac operated multiple profiles on [[Telegram]] that [[Europol]]'s [[European Counter Terrorism Centre]] (ECTC) identified as among the most influential within the Terrorgram network. His activities during the indictment period (approximately June 2023 to December 2024) included producing and disseminating far-right extremist propaganda in Terrorgram's channels; collaborating directly with [[Dallas Humber]], the Terrorgram inner collective's U.S.-based co-leader, to produce "saint cards" (the trading-card-format graphics profiling far-right mass shooters with death tolls, methods, and attack dates, framing them as martyrs); sharing audio recordings of attackers' manifestos through the network's channels; and glorifying terrorism in content distributed to a transnational audience.[^1][^2] + +Europol identified him as playing a "central and active role" in the network's operations, distinguishing him from peripheral channel participants. The case originated approximately three years before the 2026 conviction, when a journalist reported Meilhac to Danish police for threats. A [[Danish Broadcasting Corporation|Danish Radio]] (DR) podcast called "Lyssky" documented his case in an episode titled "Terrorgrams danske stemme" ("Terrorgram's Danish voice").[^3] + +### Prosecution and Conviction + +The [[Public Prosecution Service of Denmark]] charged Meilhac with terrorism-related offenses under the Danish Penal Code. The trial took place in Glostrup District Court; the date of the verdict was approximately April 21, 2026. The court found that Terrorgram qualified as a terrorist organization under Danish law, the first such finding in Denmark. + +The sentence of six years was accompanied by an order for subsequent deportation and the revocation of Meilhac's Danish citizenship. He was born in [[France]] but had lived in Denmark from approximately age two; the citizenship revocation required a judicial determination that he retained French citizenship, preventing him from becoming stateless.[^2] + +Europol described the conviction as further dismantling the Terrorgram network's international infrastructure, noting in a press release dated May 1, 2026 that it followed the December 2025 Canadian conviction of [[Matthew Althorpe]] (20 years) and the earlier 2025 U.S. conviction of Dallas Humber (30 years).[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Europol, European Counter Terrorism Centre. "'Terrorgram' network dealt another blow as member sentenced in Denmark." May 1, 2026. https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/terrorgram-network-dealt-another-blow-member-sentenced-in-denmark; Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center (MCAC) republication of Europol press release. May 2026. https://mcac.maryland.gov/2026/05/terrorgram-network-dealt-another-blow-as-member-sentenced-in-denmark/ +[^2]: The Local (Denmark). "Denmark jails man and revokes citizenship for promoting terror on social media." April 21, 2026. https://www.thelocal.dk/20260421/denmark-jails-man-and-revokes-citizenship-for-promoting-terror-on-social-media; The Copenhagen Post. "Dane had extensive contact with terror network leader." April 21, 2026. https://cphpost.dk/2026-04-21/global/dane-had-extensive-contact-with-terror-network-leader/ +[^3]: DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation). "Lyssky" podcast, episode: "Terrorgrams danske stemme." https://www.dr.dk/lyd/special-radio/lyssky/lyssky-3/terrorgrams-danske-stemme-11802665016; Tracking Terrorism (TRAC). "Jeremy Meilhac, Terrorgram Collective, Glostrup, Denmark." https://trackingterrorism.org/chatter/jeremy-meilhac-terrorgram-collective-glostrup-denmark-trac/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jillian Hoy.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jillian Hoy.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..65329689 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jillian Hoy.md @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - MartinetPress + - O9A + - TemplovBlood + - NeoNazi + - SouthCarolina + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Jillian Hoy is the co-director of Martinet Press and domestic partner of Joshua Caleb Sutter, co-operating the Lexington, South Carolina O9A publishing house that produced Iron Gates and other texts that became required reading in Atomwaffen Division." +location: "Lexington, South Carolina" +--- + +[[Jillian Hoy]] co-directs [[Martinet Press]] alongside [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] and is Sutter's domestic partner. The pair operated the press from [[Lexington, South Carolina]] as the primary publishing arm of [[Tempel ov Blood]] and the American [[Order of Nine Angles|O9A]] network. Martinet Press published [[Iron Gates]] (2014), *Liber 333*, *Bluebird*, and related O9A texts that became required and recommended reading within [[Atomwaffen Division]] following Sutter's 2017 infiltration of that organization. + +Hoy's individual public profile is limited in available reporting: she is identified as co-director in Martinet Press materials and in accounts of Sutter's activities, but investigative journalism and court documents have focused primarily on Sutter's dual role as FBI informant and O9A publisher. The extent of her awareness of Sutter's FBI arrangement and the full scope of her role in press operations have not been resolved in public sources. + +The [[FBI]] paid Sutter more than $140,000 as an informant, including funds directed specifically at facilitating his infiltration of AWD. The timing and funding of Martinet Press publications relative to those informant payments - some publications appear to have been produced during periods when Sutter was actively receiving federal payments - remains one of the most extensively documented anomalies in the federal government's handling of the AWD monitoring operation.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Bellingcat. "How Atomwaffen Became A Neo-Nazi Terror Group." https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2018/11/19/how-atomwaffen-division-became-a-neo-nazi-terror-group/; Frontline / ProPublica. "A Neo-Nazi Terrorist Is Paid Over $140,000 by the FBI — and That Might Just Be the Start." https://www.propublica.org/article/a-neo-nazi-terrorist-is-paid-over-140000-by-the-fbi-and-that-might-just-be-the-start diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Juraj Krajčík.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Juraj Krajčík.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3b832ae6 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Juraj Krajčík.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - AntiLGBT + - Slovakia + - MassShooter +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Juraj Krajčík was a Slovak neo-Nazi who attacked the Tepláreň LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava in October 2022, killing two, after Terrorgram Collective mentorship by Pavol Beňadik from age 16, becoming Terrorgram's first designated saint." +born: 2003 +died: 2022-10-12 +location: "Bratislava, Slovakia" +--- + +[[Juraj Krajčík]] (approximately 2003 - October 12, 2022) was a 19-year-old Slovak who attacked the [[Tepláreň]] LGBTQ+ bar in [[Bratislava]] on October 12, 2022, shooting three people and killing two before taking his own life. He had been radicalized through [[Terrorgram Collective]] channels from approximately age 16 (August 2019 onward), under the direct mentorship of Terrorgram co-founder [[Pavol Beňadik]] ("Slovakbro"), who had called publicly in his channels for "saints" to emerge from Slovakia. The Bratislava attack was identified within the Terrorgram community and subsequently by researchers as the network's first attributed "saint" event - a milestone in Terrorgram's radicalization pipeline becoming operational.[^1] + +### Radicalization + +Krajčík joined Beňadik's Terrorgram channels in approximately August 2019 at age 15 or 16, during the period when the post-[[Brenton Tarrant|Christchurch]] accelerationist ecosystem was migrating to [[Telegram]]. Over the following three years, Beňadik directly mentored him through the network's radicalization content - the [[Saints Culture]] framework, accelerationist neo-Nazi ideology, and Terrorgram's three major publications. Beňadik's channels explicitly called for "saints" from Slovakia, framing aspiring attackers as participants in a sacred tradition whose most recent exemplar was Tarrant. + +Krajčík cited Beňadik by his alias "Slovakbro" in the manifesto he left before the attack, naming him as a direct influence and mentor. He also identified Payton Gendron (the May 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooter who killed ten Black people) as his "final nudge," indicating the Buffalo attack served as his immediate operational trigger.[^2] + +Beňadik had been arrested by Slovak authorities in May 2022, five months before the Bratislava attack. Following Beňadik's arrest, [[Dallas Humber]] became Krajčík's primary Terrorgram contact. The arrest came too late to interrupt the radicalization Beňadik had already set in motion. Krajčík proceeded with the attack based on years of prior mentorship. + +### The Attack + +On the evening of October 12, 2022, Krajčík drove to Tepláreň, a bar in the Old Town district of Bratislava popular with the city's LGBTQ+ community. He opened fire on the bar's exterior area and entrance, killing [[Matúš Horváth]] and [[Juraj Vankulič]] (Vankulič was non-binary) and wounding [[Radka Trokšiarová]]. He then fled. The following morning, he died by suicide in a Bratislava park. Slovak police recovered his body and his manifesto, a 65-page document written in English that detailed his Terrorgram radicalization, his admiration for Tarrant and Gendron, and his explicit framing of the attack as a contribution to the "saint" tradition.[^1] + +The Bratislava attack was the first mass-casualty event directly attributed to Terrorgram's mentorship infrastructure. Within Terrorgram channels, [[Dallas Humber]] designated Krajčík as "St. Juraj Krajčík, Tarrant's sixth disciple and Terrorgram's first saint," elevating him to saint status in the Saints Culture format and circulating his attack as promotional material to inspire subsequent attackers. + +### Prosecution Record + +Because Krajčík died at the scene by self-inflicted gunshot, he faced no prosecution. The attack's consequences fell on Beňadik, who had been arrested before the attack but whose channels had provided the years of radicalization Krajčík drew on. Slovak prosecutors cited the Bratislava attack explicitly in Beňadik's trial. In Canadian sentencing proceedings for co-founder [[Matthew Althorpe]], Justice Jane Kelly listed the Bratislava attack as one of six that Althorpe's publications had inspired, tying Terrorgram's content directly to Krajčík's violence through the network Althorpe helped build.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: RSIS. "Bratislava Shooting: The Making of Terrorgram's First Saint." https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/rsis/bratislava-shooting-the-making-of-terrorgrams-first-saint/ +[^2]: ProPublica. "Telegram, Terrorgram Collective, Bratislava Murders." https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate +[^3]: Public Prosecution Service of Canada. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Kaleb Merritt.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Kaleb Merritt.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..6d8859d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Kaleb Merritt.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - CVLT + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - ChildExploitationEnterprise + - Texas + - Virginia + - OrderOfNineAngles + - FederalCase +born: 2000 +location: "Spring, Texas" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Kaleb Christopher Merritt, alias 'eTerror', was a CVLT leader already serving 33 years in Virginia for abducting and raping minors when he pleaded guilty on March 26, 2026 to engaging in a child exploitation enterprise in the federal CVLT prosecution." +--- + +[[Kaleb Merritt]] (full name Kaleb Christopher Merritt, aliases "eTerror," "o9a.evil," and "o9a") is a member of [[CVLT]] and the broader [[764 Network|764]] ecosystem, operating out of [[Spring, Texas]]. At the time of his federal indictment he was already incarcerated at [[Pocahontas State Correctional Center]] in Tazewell County, Virginia, serving a 33-year state sentence for the 2020-2021 abduction and rape of multiple minors in [[Henry County, Virginia]]. He pleaded guilty on March 26, 2026 to engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under federal law.[^1] + +### Virginia State Conviction + +Merritt targeted a 12-year-old girl in Henry County, Virginia, whom he initially contacted through Instagram and [[Discord]]. He traveled from Texas and eventually abducted her. An Amber Alert was issued when the two were reported missing, and approximately 36 hours later they were located near [[Raleigh, North Carolina]]. He was subsequently charged by a Henry County grand jury with: rape of a child less than 13 years of age, two counts of rape, two counts of producing child pornography with a victim under 15 (second or subsequent offense), one additional count of producing child pornography with a victim under 15, abduction with intent to defile, and solicitation of a child less than 15 for sex by computer. + +On March 8, 2022, Merritt appeared in [[Henry County Circuit Court]] and pleaded guilty to all charges; he was sentenced the same day to 33 years in active incarceration plus lifetime probation upon release. He was transferred to Pocahontas State Correctional Center in Tazewell County.[^2] + +The Merritt Virginia case predates his full CVLT leadership activity but overlaps with the CVLT enterprise period (at least 2019 to 2022). The federal indictment alleged that Merritt also victimized four additional children beyond those in the Virginia case, as part of his CVLT activities.[^3] + +### O9A Ideology + +Merritt adopted aliases that incorporated [[Order of Nine Angles|O9A]] identity, using "eTerror/o9a.evil" across platforms. CVLT's early leadership cohort, including co-leader [[Collin Walker]] (alias "WRATH/O9A.WRATH"), integrated O9A-aligned neo-Nazi occultism alongside nihilism and pedophilia as core ideological elements. Instagram screenshots from the account "o9a.evil" have been identified by researchers as potentially belonging to Merritt.[^4] + +### Federal Case (United States v. Rane, 2:25-cr-00040) + +The grand jury returned the CVLT indictment on January 17, 2025 in the [[Central District of California]]. The indictment was unsealed approximately February 4-5, 2025. Merritt faced one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]]. Because he was incarcerated in Virginia at the time of indictment, he was transported to federal custody in Los Angeles. + +Merritt, [[Rohan Rane]], and Walker were identified as the enterprise's leaders and administrators. All three hosted and ran CVLT servers, controlled membership, and directed victims during the creation of CSAM and coercion videos. [[Clint Borge]] was charged as a member who participated in and directed coercion sessions.[^3] + +Merritt pleaded guilty on March 26, 2026. United States District Judge [[Hernan D. Vera]] of the Central District of California scheduled Merritt's sentencing for January 7, 2027. At sentencing Merritt faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in federal prison and a maximum of life imprisonment. Any federal sentence would run consecutively to or concurrently with his existing 33-year Virginia sentence, as determined by the sentencing court.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Man Pleads Guilty to Participating in Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Children into Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." March 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-participating-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-children-producing-child; MCAC. "Man Pleads Guilty..." March 2026. https://mcac.maryland.gov/2026/03/man-pleads-guilty-to-participating-in-online-neo-nazi-group-that-exploited-children-into-producing-child-sexual-abuse-material/ +[^2]: Martinsville Bulletin. "Texas man sentenced in rape of Bassett girl." June 2022. https://martinsvillebulletin.com/news/local/article_837f0318-edab-11ec-a76d-cb37b59e40a7.html; VPM News. "Kaleb Merritt accused of being CVLT leadership, part of child sex abuse group." February 7, 2025. https://www.vpm.org/news/2025-02-07/kaleb-merrit-cvlt-henry-county-neofascist-indicted-child-sex-abuse; Virginia State Police Sex Offender Registry, Offender ee24c0fd. https://www.vspsor.com/Offender/Details/ee24c0fd-8264-48ae-89c9-33231363dca2 +[^3]: HSI press release. February 2025. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-los-angeles-cherry-hill-and-honolulu-special-agents-arrest-members-online-neo +[^4]: Medium/chokingonsignal. "Com, Extortion Groups, and the Order of Nine Angles." https://chokingonsignal.medium.com/com-extortion-groups-and-the-order-of-nine-angles-9fe1f8419526 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Luke Hunter.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Luke Hunter.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3e5e575b --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Luke Hunter.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - FeuerkriegDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - UKTerrorism +born: 1997 +location: "Newcastle upon Tyne, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Luke Hunter was a Newcastle propagandist affiliated with Feuerkrieg Division who ran a Telegram channel with over 1,200 subscribers, was convicted of seven terrorism charges in 2020, and sentenced to four years and two months at Leeds Crown Court." +--- + +Luke Hunter, 23, of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], was convicted of seven terrorism offences and sentenced to four years and two months at [[Leeds Crown Court]] on 23 December 2020. Hunter operated a [[Telegram]] channel with over 1,200 subscribers and created a white supremacist propaganda website that disseminated material in affiliation with [[Feuerkrieg Division]], including calls for the extermination of Jewish and LGBTQ people.[^1] + +### Propaganda Operation + +Hunter's Telegram channel distributed terrorist handbooks, instructional material on surveillance, guerrilla warfare, weapons, and explosives, and extreme-right video content. He also ran a separate website through which he circulated white supremacist texts, anti-Semitic and homophobic material, and content promoting political violence. A search of his home at arrest found extensive Hitler and neo-Nazi materials, military training manuals, and surveillance guides.[^1] + +His affiliation with FKD was primarily propagandistic rather than operational: he produced video content and encouraged support for FKD through his platforms. He was not charged with providing direct attack planning advice in the manner of [[Paul Dunleavy]], but the volume and character of his output resulted in seven separate charges. The charges covered encouragement of terrorism, dissemination of terrorist publications, and broadcasting violent material, each addressed separately in the indictment.[^2] + +### Arrest and Charges + +Hunter was arrested in October 2019 as part of the broader counter-terrorism policing investigation of FKD that also led to the Cornwall teenager's arrest in July 2019. The Hope Not Hate investigation that profiled Hunter documented his activity as stretching across platforms including Telegram, his own website, and other online forums.[^1] + +He admitted all seven charges, making the Leeds Crown Court hearing a sentencing proceeding rather than a trial. No terrorism enhancement was applied beyond the basic terrorism offences charged; the four-year-two-month sentence was consistent with the UK sentencing guidelines for this category of offences at the time. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Hope Not Hate. "LUKE HUNTER: profile of a Nazi terror propagandist." December 23, 2020. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2020/12/23/luke-hunter-profile-of-a-nazi-terror-propagandist/; Algemeiner. "British Neo-Nazi Who Called for 'Eradication' of Jews Sentenced to 4-Year Jail Term." December 24, 2020. https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/12/24/british-neo-nazi-who-called-for-eradication-of-jews-sentenced-to-4-year-jail-term/ +[^2]: Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Neo-Nazi with history of disseminating antisemitic material sentenced to four years in prison after admitting terrorist charges." December 2020. https://antisemitism.org/neo-nazi-with-history-of-disseminating-antisemitic-material-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison-after-admitting-terrorist-charges diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Noah Lamb.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Noah Lamb.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c695577a --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Noah Lamb.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - FederalCase + - California + - USA + - Doxing +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Noah Lamb is a Terrorgram Collective member indicted June 26, 2025 in the Eastern District of California for assembling 'The List,' a dossier-style hit list targeting U.S. senators, federal judges, a former attorney general, business leaders, journalists, and activists, facing 85 years across eight federal counts with no plea or trial outcome as of May 2026." +born: 2001 +location: "Eastern District of California" +--- + +[[Noah Lamb]] (born approximately 2001, age 24 at indictment) was charged in the [[Eastern District of California]] in an eight-count indictment filed June 26, 2025 and unsealed July 2, 2025 for his documented role in assembling the [[Terrorgram Collective]]'s "The List," a dossier-style compilation of assassination targets distributed through the network's [[Telegram]] channels. He faces a maximum combined sentence of 85 years in federal prison. The investigation was conducted by the [[FBI Sacramento Field Office]] and prosecuted by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California]].[^1] + +### "The List": Production and Targets + +The List was a Terrorgram Collective publication presenting designated assassination targets in a standardized dossier format. Each entry included the target's name, home address, a photograph of the individual, a photograph of their home, and a statement characterizing them as an enemy of white nationalist ideology based on their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. + +Targets identified in the indictment included a U.S. senator described as "an Anti-White, Anti-gun, Jewish Senator"; a U.S. district court judge described as "an invader from a foreign country" with a citation to an immigration-related ruling; and a former U.S. attorney general. Business leaders, journalists, and activist figures were also included alongside elected officials and federal judges.[^1][^2] + +Lamb's documented role was identifying prospective targets and obtaining their home addresses and personal information, which other Terrorgram members then formatted into the trading-card dossier and disseminated through the network's channels. The List publication was conceptually parallel to the [[Saints Culture]] trading-card format that celebrated past perpetrators of violence, but was prospective: it designated living individuals for future attack rather than commemorating past ones. + +### Charges and Legal Status + +The eight-count indictment charged Lamb with: one count of conspiracy; three counts of soliciting the murder of federal officials (18 U.S.C. § 373 in conjunction with 18 U.S.C. § 1114); three counts of doxing federal officials (publishing private personal information with intent to threaten); and one count of interstate threatening communication. Maximum cumulative exposure across all counts is 85 years in federal prison. + +No guilty plea or trial outcome was publicly reported as of May 2026. The case was the third Terrorgram-related prosecution filed in the Eastern District of California, following the September 2024 [[United States v. Humber|Humber-Allison indictment]] (2:24-cr-00257). Lamb's case was filed approximately ten months after the primary Humber-Allison indictment and approximately one month before [[Dallas Humber]]'s August 8, 2025 guilty plea.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Member of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged with Soliciting the Murder of Federal Officials in Connection with Hit List." July 2, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/member-transnational-terrorist-group-charged-soliciting-murder-federal-officials-connection; U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California. "Member of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged with Soliciting the Murder of Federal Officials." July 2, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/member-transnational-terrorist-group-charged-soliciting-murder-federal-officials +[^2]: NBC News. "Member of white supremacist group charged in alleged plot to solicit murder of 'high-value targets.'" July 2, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/member-white-supremacy-group-charged-alleged-plot-solicit-murder-high-rcna216701; Ali Winston (@awinston) on X, July 2, 2025. https://x.com/awinston/status/1940486731821994306 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Noah Licul.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Noah Licul.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fe0c63d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Noah Licul.md @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - FeuerkriegDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Croatia + - SDGT + - TerroristDesignation +summary: "Noah Licul is a Croatian Terrorgram Collective senior member designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. State Department on January 13, 2025, who was previously identified in Feuerkrieg Division-linked Telegram chats circa 2019-2020 under the alias 'buntovnik.'" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +location: "Croatia" +--- + +[[Noah Licul]] is a Croatian national and senior member of the [[Terrorgram Collective]] who was designated a [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] (SDGT) by the [[U.S. Department of State]] on January 13, 2025, under [[Executive Order 13224]], as part of the joint designation of Terrorgram Collective and three of its leaders. The Federal Register published the designation as part of 90 FR 3987 on January 15, 2025.[^1] + +Licul is documented in public antifascist research as having been active, then as a teenager, in [[Telegram]] chats associated with [[Feuerkrieg Division]] in 2019 and 2020, under the username "buntovnik" (Serbo-Croatian for "rebel"). In those chats, he described meeting with members of an FKD cell in Croatia and claimed credit for vandalizing a [[World War II]] memorial with neo-Nazi graffiti. His presence in FKD-affiliated chats in 2019-2020 and subsequent elevation to senior Terrorgram member status documents one of the clearest individual-level data points for the personnel continuity between the FKD-era and Terrorgram-era accelerationist networks. + +### SDGT Designation + +The January 13, 2025, designation named Licul alongside [[Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira]] (Brazil) and [[Hendrik-Wahl Muller]] (South Africa) as the three individual leaders designated alongside the Terrorgram Collective organization itself. The State Department described Licul as "a senior member of Terrorgram" residing in Croatia. The designation freezes any U.S.-jurisdictional assets, prohibits U.S. persons from conducting transactions with him, and was coordinated with the [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) action of the same date.[^2] + +As of May 2026, no criminal charges had been filed against Licul in Croatia or by any other jurisdiction in open-source records. + +### FKD Connection: Documented Link + +The identification of Licul as an FKD-adjacent actor in 2019-2020 and as a senior Terrorgram member by 2024-2025 provides an empirically documented instance of personnel migration from [[Feuerkrieg Division]]'s network to the Terrorgram ecosystem. The [[Middlebury Institute CTEC]] and [[Tech Against Terrorism]] documented FKD's active role in building the [[United Acceleration Front]] and [[National Socialist Coalition]] coalition structures on Telegram in early 2021 as organizational bridges; Licul's individual trajectory suggests the personnel overlap was direct as well as structural.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of State. "Terrorist Designations of The Terrorgram Collective and Three Leaders." January 13, 2025. https://2021-2025.state.gov/office-of-the-spokesperson/releases/2025/01/terrorist-designations-of-the-terrorgram-collective-and-three-leaders/; Federal Register. 90 FR 3987. January 15, 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/15/2025-00756/ +[^2]: OFAC. "Counter Terrorism Designations; Venezuela-related and Counter Narcotics Designation Removals." January 13, 2025. https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20250113 +[^3]: Posts from Underground. "'Don't let them find you': The U.S. Comes for Terrorgram." 2025. https://postsfromunderground.ghost.io/the-choice-is-yours-white-man-th/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Patrick Gordon MacDonald.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Patrick Gordon MacDonald.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7ee77128 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Patrick Gordon MacDonald.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Canada + - Ontario + - TerroristConviction + - TerrorPropaganda +summary: "Patrick Gordon MacDonald is an Ottawa, Ontario man who, under the alias 'Dark Foreigner,' produced and distributed Atomwaffen Division recruitment videos in 2018-2019, was convicted of all terrorism charges by Ontario Superior Court in April 2025, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in September 2025." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +location: "Ottawa, Ontario, Canada" +--- + +[[Patrick Gordon MacDonald]] (alias "Dark Foreigner," Ottawa, [[Ontario]]) was convicted in April 2025 by Ontario Superior Court Justice [[Robert Smith]] of three terrorism-related charges arising from his production and distribution of [[Atomwaffen Division]] recruitment propaganda in 2018 and 2019. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on September 8, 2025, by [[Public Prosecution Service of Canada]] prosecutors based in Montreal.[^1] + +MacDonald is distinct from [[Kristopher Erik Nippak]] and [[Matthew Althorpe]], whose separate prosecution covers [[Terrorgram Collective]] content; the MacDonald case is rooted in the earlier AWD propaganda period but represents part of the same Canadian prosecution wave targeting the AWD-to-Terrorgram accelerationist lineage. + +### Charges and Conviction + +The three charges of which MacDonald was convicted: participating in terrorist activity; facilitating terrorist activity; and inciting hate against Jews for one or more terrorist entities, including Atomwaffen Division and materials associated with [[James Mason]]. + +The offenses occurred in 2018 and 2019, when MacDonald was 20 and 21 years old, across Ottawa, Belleville, Ontario, and Saint-Ferdinand, Quebec. He participated in the creation and editing of three AWD recruitment videos encouraging viewers to commit violent acts on behalf of AWD and posted them along with other violent imagery online as AWD propaganda. He also provided his own camera and lenses for filming the videos, thereby facilitating their production. + +Under his "Dark Foreigner" alias, MacDonald disseminated propaganda across multiple social platforms. He concealed his account passwords and usernames above ceiling tiles in his residence to avoid detection. + +His trial began in November 2024. Justice Smith found him guilty on all three counts in April 2025. + +### Prosecution and Sentence + +Federal Crown prosecutors based in Montreal argued for a 14-year sentence, describing his crimes as "vile." The defence sought six to eight years. Justice Smith imposed 10 years; with credit for time already served in custody and under strict bail conditions, MacDonald had approximately nine years and nine months remaining at the time of the September 8, 2025, sentencing announcement.[^2] + +The Canadian Anti-Hate Network coverage of the case notes that the conviction and sentence established a precedent for prosecuting propaganda production and distribution under Canadian terrorism statutes when the propaganda is demonstrably connected to a listed terrorist organization. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CBC News. "Neo-Nazi terror propagandist 'Dark Foreigner' guilty on all counts." April 2025. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/patrick-gordon-macdonald-terror-trial-ottawa-decision-1.7494260; CBC News. "Terror propagandist 'Dark Foreigner' sentenced to 10 years in prison." September 2025. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/terror-propagandist-dark-foreigner-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison-1.7624892 +[^2]: Public Prosecution Service of Canada. "MacDonald Sentenced for Terrorism Offences." September 8, 2025. https://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2025/08_09_25.html; Canadian Anti-Hate Network. "Atomwaffen Division Propagandist Patrick Macdonald Found Guilty on All Charges." https://www.antihate.ca/atomwaffen_division_propagandist_patrick_macdonald_found_guilty_on_all_charges diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Patrik Jordan Mathews.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Patrik Jordan Mathews.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..65ad5020 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Patrik Jordan Mathews.md @@ -0,0 +1,61 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TheBase + - NeoNazi + - FederalCase + - Canada + - USA + - Paramilitary + - Military +summary: "Patrik Jordan Mathews was a former Canadian Armed Forces Reserve combat engineer and Base member who was sentenced to nine years in U.S. federal prison in October 2021 for firearms and immigration charges related to a planned mass attack at a Virginia gun rally." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 1990 +location: "Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada" +--- + +Patrik Jordan Mathews was a Canadian citizen and former combat engineer with the [[Canadian Armed Forces]] Reserves based in [[Winnipeg, Manitoba]]. He joined [[The Base]] and became one of its most operationally significant members, combining military training in demolitions and combat engineering with an accelerationist ideology. After Canadian journalists and the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]] (CSIS) identified him as a Base member in August 2019, he fled across the U.S. border illegally and was sheltered by fellow Base members while planning violence. His arrest, prosecution, and sentencing in the [[District of Maryland]] became the highest-profile federal prosecution of The Base's 2020 arrest campaign.[^1] + +### Canadian Forces Unit + +Mathews served as a master corporal with the [[38 Combat Engineer Regiment]], part of the [[38 Canadian Brigade Group]], based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The role required training in explosives, demolitions, and field fortification. The investigation confirmed he had "basic explosives training" as a function of the combat engineer trade. Combat engineers in the Canadian Armed Forces typically require at minimum a SECRET-level security clearance to perform their duties, and the [[Canadian Forces National Counter-Intelligence Unit]] (CFNIU) assessed the risk that his access to explosives training and any associated cleared material had been compromised.[^2] + +### How Exposure Began and Canadian Investigation + +The chain of events leading to Mathews's identification began with a routine border inspection: Canadian border agents stopped Mathews's vehicle at a Canada-U.S. border crossing in spring 2019 and found racist materials, then notified the [[RCMP]] and the CFNIU. [[Vice Canada]] journalist [[Ben Makuch]] subsequently identified Mathews through his online presence as a member of The Base and published the story in August 2019.[^3] + +The CFNIU produced two classified "information reports" in June and July 2019, before the Vice Canada story, documenting Mathews's alleged extremist ties and assessing him as a potential terrorist threat. This means the Canadian Forces were aware of Mathews as a security concern before media exposure. Following the Vice Canada report in August 2019, the Canadian Forces fast-tracked his administrative removal from the Reserve. Mathews disappeared almost immediately after the story published. + +Three Canadian agencies and one American agency had overlapping equities in the case. The RCMP opened a missing persons investigation when Mathews disappeared in mid-August 2019, and conducted its own parallel extremism investigation. CSIS was involved in intelligence monitoring, though the specific scope is not confirmed in open sources. The [[FBI]] embedded an undercover agent in The Base for months during 2019-2020 and attended Base training camps alongside Mathews and [[Brian Mark Lemley Jr.]] in Georgia in November 2019. No extradition was needed because Mathews had entered the U.S. of his own volition and could be charged under U.S. law for conduct committed on U.S. soil.[^2] + +### Canadian Background and Flight + +Mathews was identified in Canadian press reports in August 2019 as a member of The Base, following an investigation by Vice Canada. After his identity became public, Mathews went absent and crossed illegally into the United States via a wooded area near the Manitoba-Minnesota border. [[William Garfield Bilbrough IV]], a Base member from Maryland, drove to southern Michigan on August 30, 2019, to retrieve Mathews and transport him to the East Coast.[^4] + +### Plotting and Arrest + +Mathews and [[Brian Mark Lemley Jr.]], a U.S. Army veteran and Base member in Delaware, planned violence at the [[Virginia Citizens Defense League]] (VCDL) Lobby Day rally scheduled for January 20, 2020, in [[Richmond, Virginia]], where tens of thousands of gun-rights activists were expected. In recorded conversations and encrypted messages reviewed by the FBI, the two discussed using the rally as an opportunity for mass violence, including discussion of a firearm to be used for "operations." They purchased over 1,500 rounds of ammunition at a Base training camp in Georgia in November 2019. + +The FBI arrested Mathews and Lemley on January 16, 2020, four days before the rally.[^5] + +### Prosecution and Sentence + +Both defendants were charged in [[United States District Court for the District of Maryland]], case 8:20-cr-00033-TDC, before [[U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang]]. Mathews pleaded guilty to charges including transporting a firearm in furtherance of a felony and being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors successfully argued for application of a terrorism enhancement at sentencing under U.S.S.G. § 3A1.4, meaning the judge found that the offense was calculated to influence or affect government conduct through intimidation, coercion, or mass destruction. + +Judge Chuang sentenced Mathews to nine years in federal prison on October 28, 2021, followed by three years of supervised release. Prosecutors had sought twenty-five years; defense counsel sought thirty-three months. Chuang described Mathews as presenting no remorse. The terrorism enhancement was described by legal commentary as significant precedent for applying the federal terrorism sentencing provision to racially motivated violent extremism cases. As of February 2022, Mathews was serving his sentence at [[United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute]] in Indiana, with a projected release date of September 16, 2027.[^6] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CBC News. "U.S. judge sentences Manitoban ex-reservist Patrik Mathews to 9 years in prison for role in neo-Nazi plot." October 28, 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/patrik-mathews-sentencing-1.6226116 + +[^2]: CBC News. "Military Conducted Secret Investigation of Reservist Patrik Mathews as a Possible Terrorist Threat." 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/patrik-mathews-canadian-forces-neo-nazi-terrorist-1.5948202 + +[^3]: Global News. "FBI Arrests Patrik Mathews, Missing Ex-Reservist from Manitoba Accused of Neo-Nazi Ties." January 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/6420266/patrik-mathews-neo-nazi-ties-fbi/ + +[^4]: Wilson, Jason. "He Founded an American Neo-Nazi Terror Group. But Will Rinaldo Nazzaro Ever Face US Justice?" *VICE News*, October 2022. https://www.vice.com/en/article/american-terror-rinaldo-nazzaro/ + +[^5]: CBC News. "FBI Arrests Reveal Shocking Details in Case Against Former Canadian Reservist Patrik Mathews." January 2020. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/fbi-arrests-the-base-georgia-wisconsin-1.5432006; Extremism GWU, Case document, "Maryland Cell Motion for Detention Pending Trial," Case 8:20-cr-00033-TDC, filed January 21, 2020. https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/Maryland%20Cell%20Motion%20for%20Detention%20Pending%20Trial.pdf + +[^6]: Military Times. "Judge to Sentence Neo-Nazi Group Members, Including US Army Veteran, Under Terrorism Law." October 25, 2021. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2021/10/25/judge-to-sentence-neo-nazi-group-members-including-us-army-veteran-under-terrorism-law/; Globe and Mail. "Maryland judge agrees to 'terrorism enhancement' in case of ex-Canadian Armed Forces reservist." https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ex-canadian-armed-forces-reservist-should-get-25-years-in-prison-us/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ryan Hatfield.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ryan Hatfield.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..207a3327 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ryan Hatfield.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - USA + - FashFront +summary: "Ryan Hatfield (alias 'Ryan Arthur') is the Colorado Springs neo-Nazi who led the Atomwaffen Division's Colorado cell, later founded the National Socialist Order and its successor the National Socialist Resistance Front, which formally dissolved in November 2024, and subsequently became a documented contributor to the FashFront forum." +born: ~2000 +location: "Northglenn, Colorado" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +--- + +Ryan Thomas Hatfield (alias "Ryan Arthur") is an [[Atomwaffen Division]] (AWD) veteran who joined AWD at approximately 16 years of age and served as the organization's Colorado Springs cell leader. After AWD's formal dissolution through federal prosecutions in 2020, Hatfield became the primary figure sustaining the organizational lineage through successive rebrands: the [[National Socialist Order]] (NSO, announced July 2020), then the [[National Socialist Resistance Front]] (NSRF, announced September 12, 2022), which he formally dissolved on November 8, 2024. + +### AWD Membership and Colorado Cell + +Hatfield was an early AWD recruit who joined while still a teenager, making him one of the younger members of AWD's organizational leadership. He ran AWD's Colorado Springs chapter and remained active in the network through AWD's collapse. His identity was first publicly exposed by journalist [[Nate Thayer]], who died before the Baltimore case was prosecuted. + +### American Futurist and Post-AWD Organizing + +After AWD's dissolution, Hatfield operated the propaganda website [[American Futurist]], the principal publishing platform for the AWD lineage's post-collapse accelerationist content. He published essays under the alias "Ryan Arthur" and used the site to maintain ideological continuity across the NSO and NSRF periods. + +Following his identity's exposure, Hatfield relocated to [[Northglenn, Colorado]], where he was reportedly paying approximately $2,000 per month for a condominium. Anti-fascist researchers distributed flyers to neighbors in his building identifying him. + +### NSO and NSRF + +Hatfield announced the formation of NSO via a blog post on July 25, 2020, framing it as a continuation of AWD's mission by "remaining leadership who were not arrested." NSO ran a new website launched in January 2022 and conducted a membership recruitment push in March 2021 that cited [[Brandon Russell]]'s essays from prison. NSO published writings by Russell during his federal incarceration. + +On September 7, 2022, [[American Futurist]] severed ties with NSO, and on September 12, Hatfield announced the formation of NSRF as a NSO successor, citing dissatisfaction with [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) infiltration of NSO's remaining network. Russell, then on supervised release, attempted to recruit an FBI informant into NSRF in fall 2022, describing prospective members as coming from Maryland and the Carolinas. + +Hatfield announced NSRF's formal dissolution on November 8, 2024, via American Futurist, ending the organizational lineage he had maintained since AWD's collapse. + +### Russell Conspiracy and Terrorgram Coordination + +Leaked chat materials analyzed by [[SPLC Hatewatch]] in February 2023 showed Russell and an account associated with Hatfield appearing to coordinate the release of [[Terrorgram Collective]] propaganda on the American Futurist platform during the period of the [[2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy]]'s operational planning. An SPLC Hatewatch reporter ([[Hannah Gais]]) noted on social media that an account tied to Russell also shared material from Hatfield claiming to have identified an undercover FBI agent within AWD prior to its collapse.[^1] + +No charges have been filed against Hatfield as of mid-2026. + +### FashFront Activity (2025) + +Following NSRF's dissolution on November 8, 2024, Hatfield continued publishing under the "Ryan Arthur" alias. By 2025 he maintained an active writing thread on [[FashFront]], a new neo-Nazi accelerationist web forum that emerged in mid-2025 at fashfront.st, positioning itself as the successor to [[Iron March]] and [[Fascist Forge]]. The [[Global Project Against Hate and Extremism]] (GPAHE) identified Hatfield's FashFront presence as one of the documented connections between former AWD-network figures and the new forum infrastructure.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: SPLC Hatewatch, Hannah Gais. "Leaked Chats, Documents Show Atomwaffen Founder's Path to Terror Plot." February 2023. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/leaked-chats-documents-show-atomwaffen-founders-path-terror-plot/; Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists. "Ryan Hatfield aka 'Ryan Arthur': Atomwaffen Division / American Futurist." November 14, 2023. https://cospringsantifa.noblogs.org/post/2023/11/14/ryan-hatfield-atomwaffen-division-colorado/; Counter Extremism Project. "Atomwaffen Division / National Socialist Order / National Socialist Resistance Front." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/atomwaffen-division-national-socialist-order +[^2]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "New Neo-Nazi Web Forum 'Fash Front' Reinvigorating Violent Accelerationist Movement." 2025. https://globalextremism.org/post/fash-front/; FashFront forum. Ryan Arthur's article thread. https://fashfront.st/threads/ryan-arthurs-article-thread.1812/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Shahriar J.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Shahriar J.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..12868d88 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Shahriar J.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - CSAM + - Germany + - Murder + - 764Network + - FederalCase +summary: "Shahriar J., alias 'White Tiger,' is a 21-year-old dual German-Iranian national arrested in Hamburg in June 2025 and facing 204 charges including murder as a 764 Network operator who allegedly coerced a 13-year-old American into a livestreamed suicide in 2022." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 2004 +location: "Hamburg, Germany" +--- + +Shahriar J., known online as "White Tiger," is a 21-year-old dual German-Iranian national arrested in [[Hamburg]], Germany on June 17, 2025, as an alleged operator within the [[764 Network|764]] transnational child exploitation network. German prosecutors filed 204 criminal charges against him, including one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder as an indirect perpetrator, along with sexual abuse of children and rape charges. The case is being heard in [[Hamburg]] state court, not under German terrorism statutes. + +### Background + +Shahriar J. allegedly operated as a [[764 Network|764]] network administrator from his parents' home in a wealthy Hamburg suburb beginning in approximately January 2021, when he was 15 or 16 years old. Prosecutors allege he victimized more than 30 children across multiple countries, including victims in [[Germany]], the [[United Kingdom]], the [[United States]], and [[Canada]]. He was identified by law enforcement following an alert from the [[FBI]] that was initially related to child pornography. + +When German police executed a search warrant at the family home, they found approximately 85,000 files and more than 600 videos. The investigation expanded significantly from the initial CSAM referral once the scope of the network evidence was apparent.[^1] + +### The Murder Charge + +The central murder count alleges that Shahriar J. orchestrated the suicide of a 13-year-old American boy in January 2022. Prosecutors allege that Shahriar J. used a Finnish minor as an intermediary, directing the Finnish victim to psychologically coerce the American boy into dying by suicide during a livestream session. The theory of murder "as an indirect perpetrator" relies on German criminal law doctrine recognizing that a person who causes death through the actions of an unwitting or coerced instrument can be charged with murder even without direct physical action.[^2] + +### Trial + +Trial began in Hamburg state court on January 9, 2026. The initial hearing schedule covered 82 days of proceedings, with hearings running through December 17, 2026. The charges are brought under German homicide, CSAM, and sexual abuse statutes. No terrorism charges were filed; the [[FBI]] tip to German authorities identified the case as a CSAM matter, and German prosecutors charged under the statutes applicable to the actual conduct rather than under terrorism frameworks.[^1] + +### Charging Philosophy Contrast with the U.S. Approach + +The Hamburg prosecution proceeds in parallel to the [[Baron Cain Martin]] prosecution in the [[United States]] and provides a direct contrast in charging philosophy. The U.S. government chose to apply [[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]] (material support to terrorists, no FTO designation required) anchored to [[18 U.S.C. § 956|18 U.S.C. § 956(a)]] (conspiracy to kill persons in a foreign country), a terrorism theory that does not require direct proof of a killing, only a conspiracy. German prosecutors charged murder and attempted murder directly under German criminal law, requiring the more demanding proof of direct causal responsibility for death.[^3] + +The contrast reflects a structural difference in the legal systems: U.S. federal law has a well-developed material support framework that allows terrorism prosecution without a completed act of violence, while German law has no directly analogous provision and is therefore limited to traditional criminal statutes. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CBS News. "Man dubbed 'White Tiger' charged with murder over U.S. teen's livestreamed suicide." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-charged-murder-germany-us-teen-suicide-764-network/ + +[^2]: Euronews. "German court begins trial of 'White Tiger' online predator." January 9, 2026. https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/09/german-court-begins-trial-of-white-tiger-online-predator + +[^3]: Baumgartner, Luke, and Barry Jonas. "How the DOJ is Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism as Domestic Terrorism." *Just Security,* December 9, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/126226/prosecuting-nihilistic-violent-extremism-domestic-terrorism/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Tony Christopher Long.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Tony Christopher Long.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1fbf7ddc --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Tony Christopher Long.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - 764 + - NVE + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - CSAM + - ChildExploitation + - AnimalCrushing + - FederalCase + - California + - USA +born: 2006 +location: "Porterville, California" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Tony Christopher Long is a Porterville, California 764 network member federally indicted in October 2025 on six counts including animal crushing and sexual exploitation of a minor." +--- + +[[Tony Christopher Long]] (born approximately 2006, Porterville, [[California]]) is a member of the [[764 Network|764]] nihilistic violent extremist network who was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 23, 2025, in the [[Eastern District of California]]. The six-count indictment was announced publicly by DOJ on October 27, 2025. At the time of the federal indictment Long was already in state custody on related charges. He is named in the federal proceedings as a co-conspirator in the broader 764 investigation that produced the separate October 2025 indictment against [[Baron Cain Martin]] in Arizona.[^1] + +### Charges + +The federal indictment charges Long on six counts: +- Counts 1-2: Animal crushing (two counts, 18 U.S.C. § 48, maximum 7 years each) +- Count 3: Sexual exploitation of a minor (mandatory minimum/maximum up to 30 years) +- Count 4: Possession of material involving sexual exploitation of a minor (maximum 10 years) +- Count 5: Cyberstalking (maximum 20 years) +- Count 6: Transmitting an interstate threat (maximum 2 years) + +The victims include a juvenile in Washington State (the subject of the sexual exploitation and CSAM counts) and a juvenile in Kern County, California (the subject of the cyberstalking and threatening counts). The animal crushing counts involve video recordings of animal abuse, a category federally criminalized under 18 U.S.C. § 48. + +Long operated online under the aliases Inactive, Inactivee0, and inactivecvx, documented in the indictment. His alleged conduct occurred in late 2024.[^1] + +As of the October 2025 indictment, no plea or conviction status was publicly available. The case remained at the charging stage.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Member of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Animal Crushing, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, and Other Crimes." October 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/member-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-animal-crushing-sexual-exploitation-minor +[^2]: CyberScoop. "764 member Tony Christopher Long charged in California." https://cyberscoop.com/764-tony-christopher-long-california-charged/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Yegor Krasnov.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Yegor Krasnov.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b2f5a206 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Yegor Krasnov.md @@ -0,0 +1,24 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - ManiacMurderCult + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Ukraine +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Yegor Krasnov, alias 'Maniac,' is a Ukrainian teenager who founded Maniac Murder Cult in Dnipro around 2018, establishing its neo-Nazi accelerationist framework before being arrested by Ukrainian authorities in 2020." +born: 2002 +location: "Dnipro, Ukraine" +--- + +[[Yegor Krasnov]], known online as "Maniac," (born approximately 2002, [[Dnipro, Ukraine]]) founded [[Maniac Murder Cult]] (MKY) in Dnipro when he was approximately 16 years old, building the organization after an alleged expulsion from another far-right formation and recruiting approximately 15 initial members. He oversaw MKY's first phase of content production - short videos of street attacks that appeared on the Russian imageboard 2chan in 2018 and then migrated to VK and [[Telegram]] in 2019 - before being arrested by [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] authorities in 2020. Following his arrest, [[Michail Chkhikvishvili]] assumed operational leadership and expanded the network internationally.[^1] + +MKY's core ideology - neo-Nazi accelerationism combined with theistic Satanism and the "Murder Points" tiered reward system - was established under Krasnov's founding leadership. His use of "Maniac" as an alias, and the network's name itself, referenced both his alias and the [[Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs]], three Ukrainian teenagers who filmed and distributed murders in 2007 and whom MKY venerates as exemplary figures. + +Krasnov's legal status under Ukrainian law following his 2020 arrest has not been reported in English-language sources. His organization continued to grow substantially under Chkhikvishvili's subsequent international leadership.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Argentino, Marc-Andre. "Brotherhood of Blood: Understanding the Origins and Trajectory of the Maniac Murder Cult." GNET, December 4, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/12/04/brotherhood-of-blood-understanding-the-origins-and-trajectory-of-the-maniac-murder-cult/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Andrei Soshnikov.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Andrei Soshnikov.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5d754e2e --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Andrei Soshnikov.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +category: "Authors & Journalists" +tags: + - Person + - Journalist + - Russia + - InvestigativeReporting + - IronMarch + - InternetResearchAgency +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Andrei Soshnikov is a Russian investigative journalist who exposed the St. Petersburg Internet Research Agency troll factory while at Moy Rayon and later at BBC News Russian, and authored the definitive January 2020 investigation identifying Iron March founder Alisher Mukhitdinov." +--- + +Andrei Soshnikov is a Russian investigative journalist whose career spans independent local press, the [[BBC News Russian|BBC Russian Service]], and [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]'s Russian investigative unit. His two major investigations (the exposure of the [[Internet Research Agency]] in St. Petersburg and the identification of [[Alisher Mukhitdinov]] as [[Iron March]] founder "Alexander Slavros") represent the primary source record for both subjects. + +### Internet Research Agency Exposure + +Soshnikov began investigating the [[Internet Research Agency]] (IRA) while working as a reporter for Moy Rayon, a St. Petersburg local newspaper. He and Novaya Gazeta reporter Garmazhapova posed as job applicants and entered the IRA's office in 2013, producing the first published descriptions of its internal organization. Soshnikov's report documented that the IRA photocopied applicants' passports but made no effort to verify identities; that trolls were divided into specialized teams; and that individual operatives were assigned quotas of approximately 100 posts per day with designated themes including Russian state-approved framing on the G20 St. Petersburg summit in September 2013.[^1] + +In February 2015, Soshnikov published a follow-up from an unnamed IRA whistleblower that included photographs, videos, and copies of "technical tasks" distributed to trolls, establishing the IRA's operational methodology in significantly greater detail.[^1] + +After joining BBC News Russian, Soshnikov continued IRA-related investigations, using social engineering methods to identify individual operatives behind accounts on Twitter, VKontakte, and Telegram. + +### Iron March / Mukhitdinov Investigation + +Soshnikov authored the investigation that established Alisher Mukhitdinov as the real identity of Iron March founder "Alexander Slavros," published by [[BBC News Russian]] on January 30, 2020 under the title "«С самого детства я осознавал, что я русский»" ("Since childhood I understood I was Russian"). The investigation built on WHOIS-based speculation that had circulated since before the [[SPLC]] Hatewatch May 2019 profile and on the December 2019 [[Bellingcat]] investigation, both of which stopped short of physical confirmation. + +Soshnikov physically located Mukhitdinov in southwest Moscow; Mukhitdinov declined to comment. The investigation documented his educational trajectory (expelled from both [[Moscow State University]] and [[Moscow State Institute of International Relations]]), his self-description as a "metanationalist," his family's background including the connection to [[Nuritdin Mukhitdinov]], and the BBC's failure to confirm circulating theories about Russian government pressure related to alleged [[Azov Battalion]] fundraising. Soshnikov's investigation is the primary evidential basis for the identification as accepted in academic and journalistic literature.[^2] + +### RFE/RL Systema + +After BBC News Russian, Soshnikov moved to [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] as editor-in-chief of Systema, an RFE/RL Russian-language investigative unit launched in 2023. He subsequently announced his departure from RFE/RL on social media and stated he was seeking work in journalism, investigations, OSINT, and editing.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Global Investigative Journalism Network. "How They Did It: The Real Russian Journalists Who Exposed the Troll Factory in St. Petersburg." https://gijn.org/stories/real-russian-journalists-exposed-troll-factory-st-petersburg/ +[^2]: Andrei Soshnikov, "«С самого детства я осознавал, что я русский»: Как москвич Алишер Мухитдинов создал главный фашистский форум в интернете," *BBC News Russian*, January 30, 2020. Archived at Meduza: https://meduza.io/feature/2020/01/30/s-samogo-detstva-ya-osoznaval-chto-ya-russkiy +[^3]: Sota News / X post citing Soshnikov's social media announcement of departure from RFE/RL. https://x.com/sotanews/status/2032238257858077012; Muck Rack profile: https://muckrack.com/andrei-soshnikov diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ashley Podsiad-Sharp.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ashley Podsiad-Sharp.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8464cf94 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ashley Podsiad-Sharp.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - NationalAction + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - VettingFailure + - LawEnforcementEntryism + - Yorkshire +location: "Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Ashley Podsiad-Sharp was a 42-year-old HMP Armley prison officer and former National Action member convicted in 2023 at Sheffield Crown Court of possessing the White Resistance Manual, sentenced to eight years plus five years extended licence." +--- + +Ashley Podsiad-Sharp, 42, of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was a serving prison officer at [[HMP Armley]] in Leeds when he was investigated by [[Counter Terrorism Policing]]. He was convicted at Sheffield Crown Court by a jury of one count of possessing terrorist material under section 58 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]], after the jury acquitted him of a second count of disseminating terrorist material. He was sentenced on 31 August 2023 by Judge [[Jeremy Richardson KC]] to eight years' imprisonment plus five years' extended licence. The sentencing remarks are published on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website.[^1] + +### Evidence + +The terrorist material for which Podsiad-Sharp was convicted was the White Resistance Manual, a 200-page publication containing detailed guidance on: committing arson; poisoning people; sabotaging public utilities and communication systems; bomb-making; knife techniques for killing; building improvised firearms; and evading police identification and capture. The document opened with a white supremacist manifesto calling for armed resistance to the "threat to the white race" from Jewish people and non-white communities. + +Police recovered the manual on Podsiad-Sharp's computer devices during a search. He had, in the judge's assessment, gone to "considerable lengths" to conceal the document on his devices.[^2] + +### National Action History and White Stag Athletics Club + +Podsiad-Sharp had been a member of [[National Action]] before its proscription in December 2016. Following National Action's proscription, he founded or operated what Judge Richardson described as "a cauldron of self-absorbed neo-Nazism masquerading as a low-grade, all-male sports club": the [[White Stag Athletics Club]], based in South Yorkshire. The club required prospective members to hold white-supremacist views; its vetting process asked candidates whether they were homosexual, mixed race, or had Jewish or Muslim heritage. Richardson characterised the club as "a recruiter of disillusioned white men" for racially motivated purposes.[^2] + +### Prison Officer Employment + +Podsiad-Sharp was a serving prison officer throughout the period relevant to the offence, employed at HMP Armley, a Category B local prison in Leeds. His employment as a prison officer while holding these materials and running the White Stag Athletics Club is an instance of far-right extremist entryism into a law enforcement or custodial context, structurally analogous to the [[Benjamin Hannam]] case in the Metropolitan Police, though Podsiad-Sharp's O9A connection is less directly documented than his National Action history. + +Judge Richardson stated that Podsiad-Sharp displayed "not one iota of remorse."[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: R v Ashley Podsiad Sharp, Sentencing Remarks, Sheffield Crown Court, 31 August 2023. Judge Jeremy Richardson KC. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/R-v-Ashley-Podsiad-Sharp.pdf + +[^2]: ITV News Calendar. "Leeds Prison officer Ashley Podsiad-Sharp jailed over 'white supremacist murder manual'." August 31, 2023. https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2023-08-31/prison-officer-had-white-supremacist-murder-manual; The Jewish Chronicle. "White supremacist prison officer jailed for 'terrorist murder manual'." August 2023. https://www.thejc.com/news/white-supremacist-prison-officer-jailed-for-terrorist-murder-manual-gn6n2er2; HOPE not hate. "More National Action Jailings." June 27, 2023. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2023/06/27/more-national-action-jailings/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Aubrey Sakai Suzuki.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Aubrey Sakai Suzuki.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4f28976f --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Aubrey Sakai Suzuki.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NationalSocialistOrder + - FBIInformant + - USA + - Mississippi +summary: "Aubrey Sakai Suzuki was a Mississippi member of the National Socialist Order who pleaded guilty in June 2022 to interstate threatening communications after FBI monitoring of NSO chats, in which FBI informant Joshua Caleb Sutter's alias 'swissdiscipline' appeared, contributed to his identification." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 2001 +location: "Nesbit, Mississippi" +--- + +Aubrey Sakai Suzuki (born approximately 2001), of [[Nesbit, Mississippi]], was a member of the [[National Socialist Order]] (NSO), the successor organization to [[Atomwaffen Division]], who was charged and convicted for posting online threats calling for the killing of Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ Americans. + +### Case Overview + +The NSO is the name Atomwaffen Division members adopted in July 2020 after AWD's public leadership collapsed following the federal arrests of 2020. Suzuki participated in NSO's online community and in 2020 posted to an NSO website that he wanted to "take part in a revolution and be on the forefront killing Blacks, Hispanics, and homosexuals" and "blowing up the system."[^1] + +The [[FBI]] began following Suzuki in September 2020 and arrested him on July 19, 2021, when he arrived to pick up a Smith & Wesson AR-15 rifle he had purchased online from a gun store in [[Sevierville, Tennessee]].[^1] + +### Sutter's Alias in NSO Chats + +The case is notable in the context of [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]]'s informant history because Sutter's operating alias "swissdiscipline" continued to appear in encrypted [[Wire]] chats from the NSO's network after Sutter transitioned from AWD to its successor organization. Rolling Stone reported that these chats, and Sutter's presence within them, contributed to identifying Suzuki as a member and tracking his activity.[^2] The precise degree to which Sutter's informant role drove the Suzuki case versus standard FBI surveillance of NSO communications has not been specified in court documents available to the public. + +### Charges, Plea, and Sentence + +Suzuki pleaded guilty on June 30, 2022, in the [[Northern District of Mississippi|U.S. District Court in Oxford, Mississippi]], to one count of transmitting a threatening communication through interstate commerce. Prosecutors dropped two additional counts of posting threatening messages online and a count of threatening a federal law enforcement officer as part of the plea agreement.[^1] + +The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Clayton A. Dabbs]]. Suzuki was sentenced to two and a half years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.[^3] + +### Sutter's Active Informant Status at Time of Arrest + +The Suzuki case is one of the few documented instances where Sutter's continued presence inside the AWD/NSO ecosystem, as an active informant, generated a prosecutable lead that resulted in a federal conviction after the public revelation of his informant status. Because the revelation came in August 2021 and Suzuki was arrested in July 2021, the investigation of Suzuki predated the revelation by approximately one month, suggesting the FBI was still operating Sutter as an active source inside the NSO at the time the Cole motion was filed. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-NDMS. "Nesbit Man Sentenced To Prison for Racist Threats." October 20, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndms/pr/nesbit-man-sentenced-prison-racist-threats + +[^2]: Winston, Ali. "Plea Deal in the Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers," *Rolling Stone,* 2022. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/neo-nazi-1378280/ + +[^3]: Magnolia State Live. "Mississippi man admits he threatened to kill Blacks, Hispanics and homosexuals, then tried to buy an assault rifle." July 6, 2022. https://www.magnoliastatelive.com/2022/07/06/mississippi-man-admits-he-threatened-to-kill-blacks-hispanics-and-homosexuals-then-tried-to-buy-an-assault-rifle/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Brandon Russell.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Brandon Russell.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..6712a965 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Brandon Russell.md @@ -0,0 +1,133 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - SiegeCulture + - Accelerationism + - NetworkFounder + - FederalCase + - FISA + - Section702 + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Brandon Russell is the Florida neo-Nazi who founded Atomwaffen Division in 2015, whose post-prison arc from August 2021 through his February 2023 arrest demonstrates the structural failure of supervised release to address ideologically committed violent extremists." +born: 1994 +location: "Tampa, Florida" +--- + +[[Brandon Russell]] is the founder of [[Atomwaffen Division]] (AWD), which he announced on the [[Iron March]] neo-fascist forum on October 12, 2015, while a student at the [[University of South Florida]] and a member of the [[Florida National Guard]]. He has been convicted of federal crimes twice: first in 2018 for illegal possession of explosive device components following the murders of two AWD members by his roommate [[Devon Arthurs]], and again in 2025 for conspiring to attack the [[Baltimore Gas and Electric]] (BGE) electrical power grid as a prelude to a race war. He is serving a 20-year federal sentence. + +### AWD Founding on Iron March + +Russell's October 2015 Iron March announcement introduced AWD as an explicitly [[Siege Culture|Siege]]-influenced, accelerationist neo-Nazi organization committed to the collapse of American society through cascading violence. He had been organizing members since at least 2012, but the Iron March post gave the group a public identity and an international recruitment pool. AWD drew its foundational ideology from [[James Mason]]'s collected essays, treating lone-wolf violence and leaderless resistance as spiritual imperatives rather than tactical options. + +Russell developed AWD as a cell-based organization with regional chapters across the United States, emphasizing fitness culture, weapons training, and real-world operations alongside ideological study. At its height AWD had documented members in multiple states and several foreign countries. [[Tempel ov Blood]] leader [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] joined AWD in the spring of 2017 under the alias "swissdiscipline," beginning the organization's transformation from a purely [[Siege]]-focused group into one steeped in [[Order of Nine Angles]] occultism. + +### Tampa Apartment and Devon Arthurs + +Russell shared a Tampa apartment with several AWD members, including Devon Arthurs, [[Jeremy Himmelman]] (22), and [[Andrew Oneschuk]] (18). On May 19, 2017, while Russell was away at a National Guard training exercise, Arthurs shot and killed Himmelman and Oneschuk inside the apartment. Arthurs had converted to Islam and subsequently left AWD; he later told police he killed the two men partly because they had desecrated his Quran and partly because he feared they would expose his past AWD membership. After the killings, Arthurs drove to a nearby smoke shop and held customers hostage at gunpoint before surrendering to police. + +When Tampa police searched the apartment, they discovered explosive materials belonging to Russell: components for constructing explosive devices including the precursor chemicals for HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide diamine). Russell was arrested on explosives charges unrelated to the murders themselves. + +### First Federal Conviction: Full Record + +Russell's 2018 conviction arose from case number 8:17-cr-00283, [[U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida]], presided over by Senior U.S. District Judge [[Susan Bucklew]]. The sentencing hearing took place January 9, 2018. [[U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez]] appeared for the government. Russell had pleaded guilty on September 27, 2017, to two counts: possession of an unregistered destructive device (26 U.S.C. § 5861(d)) and unlawful storage of explosive material (18 U.S.C. § 842(j)). Prosecutors sought approximately 11 years; Judge Bucklew imposed five years, to be followed by three years of [[supervised release]].[^1] + +The supervised release conditions imposed at sentencing did not include restrictions on association with extremist organizations or former AWD members. [[Pete Simi]], a sociology professor at [[Chapman University]] who has studied the American far right for more than two decades, later stated that the conditions "imposed no restrictions on the young extremist's ability to associate with his former comrades" and that Russell "could've restarted the Atomwaffen Division without violating the conditions of his release."[^2] + +The case simultaneously exposed AWD to federal law enforcement scrutiny that had not previously existed and drew national media attention to the organization Russell had built.[^3] + +### Prison Period: Publications and Correspondence (2018-2021) + +While incarcerated, Russell remained organizationally active. He collaborated with other imprisoned AWD veterans to produce the [[White Prison Newsletter]], a neo-Nazi accelerationist publication distributed to incarcerated persons. The newsletter was endorsed by [[Robert Gregory Bowers]], the [[2018 Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting|Pittsburgh synagogue shooter]]. The [[National Socialist Order]] (NSO), the AWD successor organization that emerged in July 2020, published essays authored by Russell from prison and announced a recruitment push in March 2021 that cited him as a key figure. + +Russell and [[Sarah Beth Clendaniel]] began corresponding by letter in approximately 2018 while both were serving separate sentences in different facilities. The [[FBI]] monitored Russell's communications and phone traffic during his incarceration, and was aware of the Russell-Clendaniel correspondence at least as early as 2018.[^4] + +### Release: August 23, 2021 + +Russell was released from federal prison on August 23, 2021, having served approximately three years and eight months of his five-year sentence (with credit for time served and good-time reductions). He relocated to [[Orlando, Florida]] and entered three years of court-supervised release under the [[U.S. Probation Office]] in [[Tampa, Florida]]. Requests for comment about Russell's supervision made by journalists to that office went unanswered.[^2] + +### Post-Release Activity (August 2021 - February 2023) + +Between his August 2021 release and his February 2023 arrest, Russell maintained a substantial online presence across encrypted neo-Nazi Telegram networks under three documented pseudonyms: "Ouroborus," "Homunculus," and "Raccoon." He operated within invite-only chats and contributed to [[American Futurist]], the propaganda platform run by [[Ryan Hatfield]] (alias "Ryan Arthur"), the Colorado Springs-based former AWD cell leader who had founded the [[National Socialist Resistance Front]] (NSRF) through the NSO lineage. In fall 2022, Russell attempted to recruit an FBI informant into NSRF, describing prospective members as coming from Maryland and the Carolinas.[^5] + +Russell shared material from the [[Terrorgram Collective]], including "Make It Count," one of four publications the Terrorgram network released between 2021 and 2022 containing explicit instructions for attacking electrical substations: "LOCATE SUBSTATION. RANGE FIND. SHOOT TRANSFORMERS. FLEE UNDETECTED." He operated in at least three private Telegram channels: "Freedom Club," "Cat Enjoyers Anonymous," and "Don't Do Anything Illegal." Russell also circulated links to open-source infrastructure maps identifying substation locations and, in August 2022, promoted materials that purported to identify undercover FBI officers.[^5] + +Archived messages show Russell interacting with accounts tied to [[Dallas Humber]], who led the Terrorgram inner collective from 2022 to 2024, with the pair appearing to coordinate the release of Terrorgram propaganda. Prosecutors presented this material at trial in January 2025 as evidence of Russell's role within the Terrorgram network.[^6] + +### The FBI Informant and the Conspiracy + +In June 2022, approximately ten months after his release from prison, Russell made contact through encrypted channels with [[Christopher Jackson (Baltimore CHS)]], an FBI [[confidential human source]] (CHS) who worked professionally as a researcher specializing in extremism and domestic terrorism and had been recruited through an FBI agent acquaintance. Jackson became the FBI's primary source inside the conspiracy. + +Between November 2022 and February 3, 2023, Russell and Clendaniel, communicating by phone and through encrypted messaging monitored by Jackson, finalized their operational plan to destroy five BGE transformer substations simultaneously. In a recorded conversation on January 29, 2023, Clendaniel described the targeted sites as substations near [[Norrisville, Maryland|Norrisville]], [[Reisterstown, Maryland|Reisterstown]], and [[Perry Hall, Maryland|Perry Hall]], plus two additional substations in the vicinity of Baltimore City. She told Jackson: "it would permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully."[^7] + +Russell provided the operational concept and ideology, attempted to procure a firearm for Clendaniel through Jackson (Clendaniel was prohibited from possessing weapons as a convicted felon), and coordinated the timing of simultaneous attacks intended to prevent BGE grid operators from rerouting power around disabled nodes. Federal prosecutors later estimated the intended monetary loss would have exceeded $75 million.[^8] + +### Case: United States v. Russell, D. Md. + +Russell and Clendaniel were arrested on February 3, 2023. The government filed an initial criminal complaint; a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging both defendants with one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility (18 U.S.C. § 1366(b)). Russell's case was docketed in the [[District of Maryland]] under case number 1:23-cr-00029; Clendaniel's companion case was 1:23-cr-00056. Both were assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge [[James K. Bredar]].[^8] + +### FISA Section 702 Issue + +Before trial, defense attorneys [[Kobie Flowers]] and [[Ian Goldstein]] filed a motion on June 10, 2024, arguing that the government had used [[Section 702]] of the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] (FISA) in its investigation of Russell and had failed to provide the statutorily required FISA notice. The defense grounded its inference in a specific government document: the [[ODNI]]'s "FISA Section 702 Value Vignettes," released February 14, 2024, at intelligence.gov, which included a vignette describing a 2023 FBI investigation in which a warrantless U.S. person query of Section 702 databases revealed that "a person located inside the U.S. was in regular contact with an unspecified foreign terrorist group, had acquired the means to conduct an attack and had already identified specific targets in the U.S." The vignette stated the FBI disrupted a "potentially imminent terrorist attack" against critical infrastructure in less than a month, using "iterative U.S. person queries" as the subject shifted communications platforms. The defense argued Russell's was the only open case matching all those disclosed particulars.[^9] + +Three attorneys from the [[American Civil Liberties Union]]'s [[ACLU National Security Project]] joined the defense for the limited purpose of challenging the Section 702 issue. Lead ACLU attorney [[Ashley Gorski]] stated publicly: "Based on the government's own disclosures, the ACLU has good reason to believe that Mr. Russell was subjected to Section 702 surveillance and his case is a rare and important opportunity to challenge the government's practice of conducting warrantless 'backdoor searches' of its Section 702 databases to locate the communications of Americans."[^9b] + +The government agreed to a classified ex parte briefing before Judge Bredar. That hearing occurred on July 23, 2024. On August 9, 2024, Bredar issued a public order stating he was "satisfied" the government would not use Section 702-derived evidence at trial and that "there is no basis on which to believe or suspect that the rights of the defendant have been violated in any way with respect to any government activities authorized by FISA." Bredar held Russell was "not entitled to notice" of FISA surveillance under the applicable standard. The order was deliberately narrow: it addressed only whether FISA evidence would be used at trial, leaving unresolved publicly whether Section 702 collection had occurred at an earlier investigative stage that shaped the case's initiation. No appeal of Bredar's Section 702 ruling produced public Fourth Circuit docket activity before Russell's February 2025 conviction.[^9] + +### Trial + +Russell's trial commenced January 28, 2025, before Judge Bredar. The government's evidentiary case rested on three cooperating sources: Christopher Jackson (CHS-1, who testified under light disguise and pseudonym), a second confidential human source (CHS-2, also in disguise), and one FBI employee. All three had been members of the private neo-Nazi Telegram channels alongside Russell. + +In September 2024, Bredar had ruled that the three covert witnesses could testify in "light disguise" (altered hairstyle or facial hair) and use pseudonyms, and that the courtroom would be partially closed during their testimony, with audio and video piped to an overflow room. Bredar acknowledged the court "strongly disfavors" anonymous witnesses but found the exception warranted given what he characterized as an "unusually heightened threat of danger to societal institutions and witnesses seen as cooperating with those institutions." Russell's defense attorney [[Ian Goldstein]] argued the ruling created "a huge impediment to investigating and presenting a defense."[^10] + +The jury was selected January 27, 2025. Jackson testified January 29 and disclosed in testimony that he had received "about $70,000," comprising approximately $40,000 in direct payments and $30,000 in reimbursements for plane tickets and travel expenses across several investigations. On January 27, the night jury selection occurred and two days before Jackson testified, the government paid Jackson an additional $7,180.11, bringing his total FBI compensation to approximately $80,000. The [[Department of Justice]] disclosed the additional payment on March 19, 2025, six weeks after the guilty verdict.[^11] + +Russell was convicted on February 4, 2025, of one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility after a six-day trial. + +### New Trial Motion + +Following the government's March 19 disclosure, Russell moved for a new trial, arguing that Jackson had committed perjury by testifying to an incomplete compensation figure and that the undisclosed payment constituted a [[Brady v. Maryland|Brady]] violation. On April 29, 2025, Bredar denied the motion. Bredar found the non-disclosure "unfortunate" and acknowledged "the timing of the payment...raises some concern" but held the error insufficient to undermine the verdict given Jackson's limited scope of testimony, the corroborating evidence independent of Jackson's testimony, and the jury's awareness of Jackson's compensation from the disclosed amounts.[^11] + +### Sentencing: August 7, 2025 + +Bredar sentenced Russell to the statutory maximum of 20 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, on August 7, 2025. Bredar rejected defense arguments that Russell was less culpable than Clendaniel, calling him "the brains" behind the operation and the source of its "intellectual horsepower." The judge characterized Russell as "profoundly dangerous" and said he "seeks to destroy the very fabric of society." Bredar also noted that Russell had "significant mental health issues." The lifetime supervised release conditions included close monitoring of Russell's electronic devices.[^12] + +The sentence reflected Russell's status as a recidivist: his 2018 conviction for illegal explosive possession in the Middle District of Florida was counted as a prior offense. The combined effect of both convictions means Russell will not be eligible for release until his mid-forties at the earliest. + +### AWD Organizational Continuity + +The Baltimore conspiracy's relationship to AWD organizational continuity is factually complex. By 2023, AWD had formally dissolved; the National Socialist Order (NSO) had itself transitioned into the [[National Socialist Resistance Front]] (NSRF) in September 2022 under Ryan Hatfield. Russell's fall 2022 NSRF recruitment activity suggests he understood himself as operating within the AWD successor network rather than as an isolated individual. + +Neither the NSRF nor any other successor organization was charged as a co-conspirator in the Baltimore case. Russell's collaboration with Clendaniel, a Maryland woman with no documented prior AWD membership, illustrates the movement's shift from formal organizational structure to informal network-based radicalization: Clendaniel's introduction to Russell came through prison correspondence, her ideology was self-developed through her own history of white nationalist beliefs dating to 2001, and her recruitment into the operational conspiracy was personal rather than institutional.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: United States v. Russell, 8:17-cr-00283 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 9, 2018). CourtListener docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6072023/united-states-v-russell/; Tampa Bay Times. "Neo-Nazi Florida National Guard soldier gets five years in prison on bombmaking charges." January 9, 2018. https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/Neo-Nazi-Florida-National-Guard-soldier-gets-five-years-in-prison-on-bombmaking-charges_164309905/ + +[^2]: The Baltimore Banner. "How neo-Nazi leader Brandon Russell came to be accused of targeting Baltimore substations." 2023. https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/brandon-russell-neo-nazi-sarah-clendaniel-power-substation-CH6ZNB2FVVDYREOUJEMGTODDCM/ + +[^3]: ProPublica / PBS Frontline. "Armed and Dangerous." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-armed-and-dangerous + +[^4]: Vice. "Inside the Neo-Nazi Prison Magazine Radicalizing Americans in Their Cells." https://www.vice.com/en/article/white-power-newsletter-neo-nazi-accelerationism-behind-bars/; Counter Extremism Project. "Atomwaffen Division / National Socialist Order / National Socialist Resistance Front." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/atomwaffen-division-national-socialist-order + +[^5]: SPLC Hatewatch, Hannah Gais. "Leaked Chats, Documents Show Atomwaffen Founder's Path to Terror Plot." February 2023. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/leaked-chats-documents-show-atomwaffen-founders-path-terror-plot/ + +[^6]: SPLC Hatewatch. "Neo-Nazi network 'Terrorgram' goes to court over planned attack on substation." January 2025. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/neo-nazi-network-terrorgram-court-planned-attack-substation/ + +[^7]: CBS News. "Baltimore power grid attack plot: Sarah Beth Clendaniel and Brandon Russell arrested, officials say." February 6, 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baltimore-power-grid-attack-plot-fbi-suspects-arrested-sarah-beth-clendaniel-brandon-russell/; ABC News. "Suspected white supremacists arrested in plot to attack power stations, destroy Baltimore." February 6, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspects-arrested-plot-attack-power-stations-destroy-baltimore/story?id=96923380 + +[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Md. "Federal Indictment Returned Charging Maryland Woman and Florida Man for Conspiring to Destroy Energy Facilities." February 14, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/federal-indictment-returned-charging-maryland-woman-and-florida-man-conspiring-destroy + +[^9]: ODNI, "FISA Section 702 Value Vignettes," February 14, 2024. https://www.intelligence.gov/assets/documents/702-documents/FISA_Section_702_Vignettes-20240214_Final.pdf; Baltimore Sun. "Prosecutors will say in secret whether they used controversial spying tool against neo-Nazi accused in Baltimore power grid plot." June 27, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/27/prosecutors-will-say-in-secret-whether-they-used-controversial-spying-tool-against-neo-nazi-accused-in-baltimore-power-grid-plot/; Baltimore Sun. "Feds will not use evidence from spying program at trial of neo-Nazi accused in Baltimore power grid plot, judge finds." August 9, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/08/09/feds-evidence-spying-program-neo-nazi-accused-baltimore-power-grid-plot/ + +[^9b]: Baltimore Banner. "ACLU Signs On to Defend Neo-Nazi Charged with Power Grid Plot." https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/neo-nazi-baltimore-power-grid-aclu-national-security-defense-PA277N47ANCLPAMBKAFHXNZ45U/; WMAR Baltimore. "Man accused of plotting to destroy Baltimore's electrical grid has new defender." https://www.wmar2news.com/local/man-accused-of-plotting-to-destroy-baltimores-electrical-grid-has-new-defender + +[^10]: U.S. District Court, D. Md. Opinion re: Witness Disguise, Case No. 23-0056. September 2024. https://www2.mdd.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Opinions/23-0056%20Russell%20Opinion%20re%20witness%20disguise.pdf; The Daily Record. "Disguised witnesses to testify against neo-Nazi accused of planning MD power grid attack." September 2, 2024. https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/09/02/disguised-witnesses-to-testify-against-neo-nazi-accused-of-planning-power-grid-attack/ + +[^11]: The Daily Record. "Neo-Nazi who plotted to destroy BGE substations denied new trial." May 2, 2025. https://thedailyrecord.com/2025/05/02/neo-nazi-baltimore-substation-trial-denial/ + +[^12]: CNN. "Neo-Nazi group leader sentenced to 20 years in prison for planned Maryland power grid attack." August 7, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/07/us/neo-nazi-maryland-power-grid-plot-sentencing; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Md. "Florida Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Conspiring to Destroy Baltimore Region Power Grid." August 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/florida-man-sentenced-20-years-conspiring-destroy-baltimore-region-power-grid diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Camden Rodriguez.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Camden Rodriguez.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c0efbf69 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Camden Rodriguez.md @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - GreggyCult + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - FederalCase + - Colorado + - USA +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Camden Rodriguez, aliases 'oHare' and 'carroteater,' was a Longmont, Colorado leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants." +born: 2003 +location: "Longmont, Colorado" +--- + +[[Camden Rodriguez]], aliases "oHare" and "carroteater," is a resident of [[Longmont, Colorado]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 2003 and was 22 at the time of his December 2025 indictment. + +### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361) + +A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Rodriguez alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], and [[David Brilhante]]. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]], conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^1] + +Rodriguez was identified in one local news report as an "alleged leader" of Greggy's Cult. The group recruited minor victims through gaming platforms and social media and coerced them into producing [[CSAM]], using that material to compel continuing compliance including self-harm. Members of Greggy's Cult later became "prominent members" of the [[764 Network]], per DOJ's characterization in the December 2025 press release.[^1] + +No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Rodriguez was publicly reported as of May 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; KDVR. "Longmont man, alleged leader of 'Greggy's Cult,' charged with sexually exploiting children." December 2025. https://kdvr.com/news/local/longmont-man-alleged-leader-of-greggys-cult-charged-with-sexually-exploiting-children/; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Cameron Shea.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Cameron Shea.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8546110e --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Cameron Shea.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - HateCrime + - FederalCase + - Washington + - USA + - TerroristConviction +born: 1996 +location: "Redmond, Washington" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Cameron Brandon Shea, alias 'Krokodil,' was Atomwaffen Division's national recruiter and co-organizer of the Operation Erste Saule intimidation campaign, sentenced to 36 months in federal prison in 2021." +--- + +[[Cameron Brandon Shea]], operating online under the alias "Krokodil," served as [[Atomwaffen Division]]'s primary national recruiter and co-organized "Operation Erste Saule" (Operation First Pillar) alongside AWD's Washington State chapter leader [[Kaleb Cole]]. The operation involved identifying journalists and advocates who had reported on or tracked antisemitism and white nationalism, then delivering threatening posters featuring Nazi imagery to their homes and workplaces. Shea pleaded guilty on April 7, 2021, to two federal counts and was sentenced to 36 months (three years) in federal prison on August 25, 2021, by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in the [[Western District of Washington]].[^1] + +### National Recruitment Operations + +Shea served as AWD's principal national recruiter, operating from [[Redmond, Washington]] and recruiting members across multiple states through encrypted messaging applications and AWD's online presence. His recruitment work made him one of the most organizationally significant AWD members outside its Texas-based leadership structure, which was centered on AWD's propaganda chief [[John Cameron Denton]] and founder [[Brandon Russell]]. + +His co-organization of Operation Erste Saule with Cole placed both of them at the center of AWD's harassment campaign against journalists and civil rights organizations, connecting his Washington-based recruiting operation to the national intimidation strategy. + +### Operation Erste Saule + +[[Operation Erste Saule]] targeted journalists who had written about AWD and organizations including the [[ADL]] that had monitored AWD's activities. The campaign involved researching targets' home and workplace addresses and delivering threatening printed posters, which depicted masked figures with guns and Molotov cocktails alongside neo-Nazi imagery, to those locations across multiple states. + +The operation ran alongside [[John Cameron Denton]]'s separate swatting campaign, which targeted a different set of individuals through false emergency reports, representing two concurrent AWD harassment strategies operating in 2018-2019. The two campaigns were prosecuted separately: Shea and Cole in the Western District of Washington, and Denton in the Eastern District of Virginia.[^2] + +### Guilty Plea and Sentencing + +Shea pleaded guilty on April 7, 2021, to two counts: (1) conspiracy to commit three federal offenses (interference with federally-protected activities because of religion, mailing threatening communications, and cyberstalking) and (2) interference with a federally protected activity because of religion. On August 25, 2021, Judge John C. Coughenour sentenced him to 36 months in federal prison. + +The 36-month sentence compared to [[Kaleb Cole]]'s sentence for the same operation in the same court and to Denton's 41-month sentence in the EDVA for the parallel swatting conspiracy.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-WDWA. "Leader of Atomwaffen Conspiracy Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Threatening Journalists and Advocates." August 25, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/leader-atomwaffen-conspiracy-sentenced-3-years-prison-threatening-journalists-and +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-WDWA. "Leader of Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime and Conspiracy Charges." April 7, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/leader-neo-nazi-group-atomwaffen-pleads-guilty-hate-crime-and-conspiracy-charges diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Charlie Sargent.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Charlie Sargent.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b095c2f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Charlie Sargent.md @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - UK + - CombatEighteen + - BloodAndHonour + - SpecialBranch + - Murder + - Informant +born: 1963 +location: "England, United Kingdom" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Charlie Sargent co-founded Combat 18 in 1992, was convicted of murder at Chelmsford Crown Court in January 1998 for the stabbing death of Christopher Castle, and was publicly identified by ITV's World in Action and a Statewatch investigation as a Special Branch informant, though he never confirmed the allegation." +--- + +Charlie Sargent co-founded [[Combat 18]] in 1992 and led the organisation through its most violent period of the mid-1990s, maintaining documented ties to the [[Ulster Defence Association]] and overseeing a brutal internal culture that ended in murder. He was convicted of the murder of [[Christopher Castle]] at [[Chelmsford Crown Court]] in January 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment. In the months following his conviction, an ITV documentary and multiple investigative reports identified him as a [[Special Branch]] informant, though no official confirmation has ever been provided and Sargent himself did not confirm the allegation.[^1] + +### Founding of Combat 18 + +In early 1992, the [[British National Party]] formed Combat 18 as a stewarding group to protect its events from anti-fascists. The organisation's name refers to the initials of [[Adolf Hitler]] (A=1, H=8). Sargent was among the founding figures alongside [[Wilf Browning]]. C18 split from the BNP in 1993 when Sargent rejected the party's electoralist strategy in favour of open paramilitarism. Following the death of [[Ian Stuart Donaldson]], frontman of the neo-Nazi band [[Skrewdriver]] and Sargent's former flatmate, in a car crash in September 1993, C18 took control of [[Blood and Honour]], Donaldson's neo-Nazi music promotion network, and its affiliated label, [[ISD Records]]. Blood and Honour's lucrative white-power music business became a significant source of C18's income.[^2] + +### UDA Connections and Paramilitarism + +C18 developed documented ties to the [[Ulster Defence Association]] during the early 1990s. Sargent was acquainted with [[Johnny Adair]], the UDA's [[Lower Shankill Road]] commander, who attended Combat 18 events in England. C18 provided manpower to counter demonstrations by Irish republican supporters and maintained weapon-related contacts with loyalist networks in [[Northern Ireland]]. According to a Statewatch investigation, the World in Action documentary that exposed Sargent as an informant reported that his information supplied to Special Branch related specifically to C18's UDA connections.[^3] + +C18 was also linked to a 1997 campaign in which parcel bombs were sent from Denmark to anti-fascist activists and celebrities in the United Kingdom. The Danish dimension connected C18 to the European neo-Nazi network around [[Blood and Honour Scandinavia]] and [[White Aryan Resistance]] networks on the continent. + +### Internal Feud and the Castle Murder + +A factional dispute between Sargent and Browning emerged in the mid-1990s centred on control of the Blood and Honour music revenues and mutual accusations of police informing. The rival faction led by Browning sought Sargent's expulsion and demanded the return of the C18 membership list. The confrontation escalated fatally in October 1997 when [[Christopher Castle]], a [[Blood and Honour]] supporter acting as an intermediary between the two factions, went to Sargent's home. Sargent's associate [[Martin Cross]] stabbed Castle to death with a nine-inch knife in what the court described as "a violent and cowardly attack." Sargent was convicted as a principal in the murder. Both Sargent and Cross were convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court in January 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment.[^1] + +### The Informant Allegations + +Anti-fascist researchers had documented suspicious patterns in C18 from the early 1990s: following street clashes in central London, several senior C18 activists were observed being driven away in unmarked police cars.[^3] The allegations crystallised publicly in April 1998 when ITV's [[World in Action]] programme, "Playing with Fire," broadcast evidence of Sargent's role as a Special Branch informant. The timing placed the broadcast a few months after his January 1998 murder conviction. + +The programme presented two specific evidential items. First: during the planning of the 1997 Danish letter-bomb campaign, C18's leadership withheld an updated target list from Sargent because they suspected him of leaking information; an outdated version of the target list subsequently appeared in the press. An undercover police officer who had infiltrated C18 confirmed to the programme that the names could only have come from Sargent. Second: the programme showed that C18 was allowed to operate through its campaign of arson and terror attacks because Sargent was working for Special Branch and providing intelligence on the UDA's English mainland contacts.[^3] + +The historian and researcher [[Larry O'Hara]] of [[Notes From The Borderland]] has argued that the confirmed state asset in C18 was not Sargent but [[Darren Wells]] (alias McKenzie), who co-authored the C18 booklet with Browning and acknowledged in 2002 that he had been working as a Searchlight/Special Branch informant, handled through [[Nick Lowles]] of [[Searchlight Magazine]]. O'Hara's analysis holds that the genuine asset (Wells) helped create conditions of mutual suspicion between Browning and Sargent, in a dynamic consistent with the FBI's [[COINTELPRO]] disruption playbook, and that this suspicion was what escalated into the murder of Castle. On O'Hara's account, Sargent and Browning were both manipulated rather than either being a state agent themselves.[^4] + +The [[Observer]] newspaper's [[Henry Macdonald]] published an article on 5 April 1998 alleging that Sargent was a paid informer, adding to the documentary record. No evidence has been produced to definitively prove or disprove the allegation against Sargent personally. It has never been confirmed by any official body and Sargent has not spoken publicly about it.[^5] + +### State Intelligence and the Myatt Non-Prosecution + +The Sargent informant question is directly relevant to the broader question of why [[David Myatt]], C18's attributed "ideological heavyweight," was never prosecuted for terrorism. If Sargent was indeed supplying Special Branch with intelligence on C18 and UDA activities, he would have reported on Myatt's role and activities within C18's circles throughout the mid-1990s. That reporting would constitute inadvertent documentation of Myatt's conduct by state agents with knowledge of events. The absence of any prosecution of Myatt despite that presumed intelligence record has not been officially explained. It may reflect a prosecutorial decision that the available evidence did not meet the standard for terrorism charges, or it may reflect operational considerations about which intelligence assets and methods would be exposed in a trial. The public record does not resolve the question.[^4] + +### Aftermath + +Sargent and Cross remained in prison following their life sentences. The C18 organisation fragmented after their convictions. Sargent's brother [[Steve Sargent]] remained in the neo-Nazi movement and co-founded the [[National Socialist Movement (UK, 1997)]] with [[David Myatt]] in June 1997, while Charlie Sargent's case was still proceeding through the courts. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Statewatch. "UK: C18 leaders get 'life' for murder," 1998. https://www.statewatch.org/statewatch-database/uk-c18-leaders-get-life-for-murder/ +[^2]: Lowles, Nick. *White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18.* Milo Books, 2001. +[^3]: Statewatch. "UK: C18 leader was police informer," 1998. https://www.statewatch.org/statewatch-database/uk-c18-leader-was-police-informer/ +[^4]: Notes From The Borderland (Larry O'Hara). "Combat 18 and MI5: Some Background Notes." https://borderland.co.uk/combat-18-mi5-some-background-notes/ +[^5]: Macdonald, Henry. "C18 leader 'was paid informer.'" Observer, 5 April 1998. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Dylann Roof.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Dylann Roof.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c36846c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Dylann Roof.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - SaintsCulture + - WhiteNationalism + - SouthCarolina + - USA + - MassShooter +born: 1994-04-03 +location: "Lexington, South Carolina" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Dylann Roof killed nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in June 2015, received death sentences in both federal and state proceedings, and was explicitly named as inspiration by Brenton Tarrant, founding the saint-citation chain." +--- + +[[Dylann Roof]] (born April 3, 1994, [[Lexington, South Carolina]]) killed nine Black parishioners at [[Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]] on June 17, 2015, during a Wednesday evening Bible study session. Roof had sat with the group for approximately an hour before opening fire. He was arrested the following morning in [[Shelby, North Carolina]], after a tip from a passing motorist who recognized him from surveillance footage. He was convicted in federal court on 33 counts including hate crimes and obstruction of religion, and in state court on nine counts of murder, and was sentenced to death in both proceedings. [[Brenton Tarrant]] explicitly cited Roof's attack as an inspiration in his 2019 Christchurch manifesto, beginning the documented chain of "saint" citations that runs through [[Payton Gendron]], [[Juraj Krajčík]], and [[Nikita Casap]].[^1] + +### The Charleston Attack + +On June 17, 2015, Roof drove to Emanuel AME Church, one of the oldest and most historically prominent Black churches in the American South, and joined the mid-week Bible study group. After approximately an hour, he opened fire. The nine people killed were [[Clementa C. Pinckney]] (the church's senior pastor and a South Carolina state senator), [[Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd]], [[Susie Jackson]], [[Ethel Lee Lance]], [[Depayne Middleton Doctor]], [[Tywanza Sanders]], [[Daniel Simmons]], [[Sharonda Coleman-Singleton]], and [[Myra Thompson]]. + +Roof stated to several survivors that he intended to start a race war and that Black people "were taking over the country." He allowed some individuals to survive the shooting explicitly so they could describe what happened. + +### Radicalization and Manifesto + +Roof described his radicalization in a manifesto he posted online in the months before the attack. He stated he had been radicalized by reading [[Council of Conservative Citizens]] material online, particularly fabricated and distorted statistics about interracial crime. His manifesto framed the attack as a necessary provocation: he believed a high-profile act of racial violence against Black people would trigger a violent white nationalist response and accelerate the collapse of multiracial American society. + +The manifesto described white South Africa as a model, cited historical grievances, and explicitly invoked the concept of white victimhood that characterizes much accelerationist writing. Roof did not identify with any specific organized movement before the attack and had no prior criminal record. + +### Conviction and Sentencing + +In federal proceedings, Roof was convicted on 33 counts including hate crimes resulting in death, obstruction of religion resulting in death, and use of a firearm to commit a violent crime. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel sentenced him to death in January 2017. He subsequently waived his right to counsel and represented himself, continuing to deny the validity of the proceedings. + +South Carolina state court convicted him on nine counts of murder. He was sentenced to death on each count.[^2] + +### Accelerationist Succession + +Tarrant's 2019 Christchurch manifesto stated that Roof's attack had demonstrated the possibility of a lone individual shifting the political landscape through targeted violence. By naming Roof as an inspiration, Tarrant placed him retroactively within the "saint" framework that the Christchurch attack then formalized for the global accelerationist movement. The documented chain - Roof inspires Tarrant, Tarrant inspires Gendron, Gendron named as "final nudge" by Krajčík, Krajčík's writings cited by Casap - runs directly through the [[Terrorgram Collective]] prosecution record and into the most recent cases.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Jury Convicts Dylann Roof on All Counts in the Federal Hate Crimes Trial for the Emanuel AME Church Shooting." https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/jury-convicts-dylann-roof-all-counts-federal-hate-crimes-trial-emanuel-ame-church-shooting +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Dylann Roof Sentenced to Death for Federal Hate Crimes in Emanuel AME Church Shooting." January 2017. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/dylann-roof-sentenced-death-federal-hate-crimes-emanuel-ame-church-shooting +[^3]: ICCT. "Christchurch Attacks and the Role of Online Propaganda." https://icct.nl/publication/christchurch-attacks-and-the-role-of-online-propaganda/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jack Reed.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jack Reed.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..581344ac --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jack Reed.md @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - ViolentExtremism + - Accelerationism + - CountyDurham +born: ~2003 +location: "New Brancepeth, County Durham, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Jack Reed was a 16-year-old neo-Nazi from County Durham convicted in November 2019 of six terrorism offences including preparation of a terrorist attack, whose handwritten manifesto contained an Order of Nine Angles symbol and listed Jewish community venues among his planned targets in Durham." +--- + +Jack Reed, of Woodbine Terrace, New Brancepeth, County Durham, was convicted at [[Manchester Crown Court]] in November 2019 of six terrorism offences committed between October 2017 and March 2019, when he was aged 14 to 16. He was sentenced in January 2020 by Judge [[David Stockdale QC]], the former Recorder of Manchester, to six years and eight months' detention in a Young Offenders' Institute with a five-year extended licence, with the Parole Board prohibited from considering early release until he had served two-thirds of his sentence. Reed became one of the youngest persons convicted of terrorism offences in the United Kingdom at the time of his trial. + +### Offences and Evidence + +Police searched Reed's family home in New Brancepeth and recovered a handwritten manifesto, which Reed had titled "Storm 88 - A Manual For Practical And Sensible Guerrilla Warfare Against The Kike System In The Durham City Area, Sieg Heil." The manifesto listed "areas to attack" in Durham, including schools, pubs, council buildings, and post offices, and outlined planned arson attacks on local synagogues using Molotov cocktails.[^1] + +An [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) symbol was hand-drawn in the manifesto. The prosecution described Reed's stated ideology as "occult neo-Nazism," making him one of the first UK terrorism defendants where a specific link to O9A was publicly cited in court proceedings.[^2] + +Computer and phone forensic analysis uncovered extensive internet searches on firearms, explosives, and knives, together with downloads of extreme right-wing material. Reed had described himself in writing as a "natural sadist" and expressed admiration for [[Adolf Hitler]].[^1] + +The six counts at conviction were: preparation of terrorist acts (section 5, [[Terrorism Act 2006]]); disseminating a terrorist publication (section 2, Terrorism Act 2006); possessing an article for a terrorist purpose (section 3, Terrorism Act 2006); and three counts of possessing a document containing information useful to a terrorist (section 58, [[Terrorism Act 2000]]). + +### Sentencing + +Judge Stockdale QC described Reed as "highly intelligent, widely read, quick-thinking and articulate" and told him it was "a matter of infinite regret that you pursued at such a young age a twisted and, many would say, a sick ideological path."[^3] + +On 23 December of the same year, Reed received a separate concurrent sentence: an 18-month Detention Training Order for five sexual assaults against a schoolgirl, run concurrently with the terrorism sentence already being served.[^3] + +### Anonymity and Naming + +Reed was initially subject to a reporting restriction order under section 45 of the [[Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999]], which prohibited identification. In January 2021, a judge rejected a bid to maintain his anonymity, and he was publicly named in media reports.[^4] + +### O9A Context + +Reed's case is among the most explicit in terms of the O9A symbol's direct presence in a terrorism evidence file. In the core eight cases [[HOPE not hate]] cited in its "Order of Nine Angles: An Incubator of Terrorism" chapter (State of Hate 2020), Reed's case is described as involving a terror manual with an O9A symbol "hand-drawn" on it.[^5] This distinguishes his case from those where O9A links were inferred from associated materials rather than from documentary evidence within the charged terrorism material itself. + +Reed was not charged with O9A membership or any offence connected to O9A as an organisation; the O9A symbol in the manifesto was cited as evidence of ideological orientation rather than as a standalone charge. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Enfield Independent (PA). "Nazi terrorist named after judge rejects anonymity bid." 2021. https://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/national/19002125.nazi-terrorist-named-judge-rejects-anonymity-bid/ + +[^2]: HOPE not hate. "Order of Nine Angles: An Incubator of Terrorism." *State of Hate 2020.* https://hopenothate.org.uk/chapter/order-of-nine-angles-an-incubator-of-terrorism/ + +[^3]: ITV News. "Teenage terrorist claims he was 'tipped off' about police raid." January 6, 2020. https://www.itv.com/news/2020-01-06/teenage-terrorist-claims-he-was-tipped-off-about-police-raid; Far-Right Criminals. "Terror plot: Durham teenage neo-Nazi named as Jack Reed." January 12, 2021. https://far-rightcriminals.com/2021/01/12/terror-plot-durham-teenage-neo-nazi-named-as-jack-reed/ + +[^4]: US Sun. "Boy who became UK's youngest terrorist at 16 with neo-Nazi plot unmasked after losing bid to keep anonymity." 2021. https://www.the-sun.com/news/2122465/teen-neo-nazi-durham-named-anonymity/ + +[^5]: ISD Global. "The Order of Nine Angles." Explainer, August 2022. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-explainer/the-order-of-nine-angles/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jarrett William Smith.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jarrett William Smith.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9242f6bc --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jarrett William Smith.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - FeuerkriegDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Military + - FederalCase + - Kansas + - USA + - TerroristConviction +born: 1999 +location: "Fort Riley, Kansas" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Jarrett William Smith was a U.S. Army Specialist at Fort Riley, Kansas and Feuerkrieg Division member sentenced to 30 months in federal prison in 2020 for distributing IED-making instructions to undercover FBI agents." +--- + +[[Jarrett William Smith]] was a [[U.S. Army]] Specialist stationed at [[Fort Riley]], [[Kansas]] who was arrested on September 21, 2019 for distributing bomb-making instructions to undercover FBI agents. He was an admirer of [[Atomwaffen Division]] and a member of [[Feuerkrieg Division]], a transnational neo-Nazi accelerationist network. Online communications documented by investigators showed him discussing potential attacks on targets including presidential candidate [[Beto O'Rourke]] and [[CNN]] offices. He pled guilty on February 10, 2020 and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on August 19, 2020, by [[U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Crabtree]] in the [[District of Kansas]], case number 5:19-cr-40091-DDC.[^1] + +### Investigation and Arrest + +Smith communicated with undercover FBI agents posing as fellow extremists in an online chat group, using the moniker "Anti-Kosmik 2182." The FBI undercover engagement occurred on September 20, 2019, from Fort Riley, the day before his arrest. Over several months he distributed detailed instructions for constructing improvised explosive devices, including guidance on building car bombs. In online conversations he discussed attacking Beto O'Rourke, who was running for the Democratic presidential nomination at the time, and discussed attacking CNN offices. He framed prospective violence in accelerationist terms consistent with [[Siege Culture|Siege-influenced]] ideology, treating mass casualty attacks as catalysts for societal collapse. + +Early news coverage reported that Smith had discussed these targets and used language indicating murder solicitation. These statements appeared in the criminal complaint affidavit but were not carried into the formal indictment or plea: the two-count indictment covered the IED and napalm instruction distribution, not the discussed attack planning. FBI agents arrested him at Fort Riley on September 21, 2019. He was still on active duty at the time of arrest.[^2] + +### Feuerkrieg Division Connection + +[[Feuerkrieg Division]] (FKD) is a transnational neo-Nazi accelerationist network founded in 2018, structured as a decentralized franchise operating through encrypted messaging applications. It recruited from AWD-adjacent online spaces and had documented members in the United States, United Kingdom, Estonia, and other countries. Smith's membership placed him in an international network of accelerationist cells operating simultaneously with the AWD prosecutions of 2018-2019. FKD's Estonian founder, a teenager known as "Commander," was identified by Estonian authorities in January 2020 but could not be criminally prosecuted due to his age (13); three other FKD members were convicted by a Harju County Court in January 2025 for membership in and recruitment for a terrorist organization. + +AWD membership or association was never charged as a separate count or element in Smith's case. DOJ press releases and [[Anti-Defamation League]] reporting describe Smith as "associated with" Feuerkrieg Division and as an AWD admirer, but no court document formally charged AWD membership. The FBI investigation centered on his FKD network activities.[^3] + +### Guilty Plea and Sentence + +Smith pled guilty on February 10, 2020 to two counts of distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 842(p)(2)(A). The maximum sentence on each count was 20 years. On August 19, 2020, Judge Crabtree sentenced him to two concurrent 30-month terms in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, well below the statutory maximum. No terrorism enhancement was applied at sentencing, which accounts in part for the 30-month term. At sentencing, prosecutors described Smith as a "Satanist" and argued that his goal was to overthrow the U.S. government, drawing on Smith's broader ideological communications.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice. "Army Soldier Pleads Guilty to Distributing Information About Explosives." February 10, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/army-soldier-pleads-guilty-distributing-information-about-explosives; United States v. Smith, 5:19-cr-40091-DDC (D. Kan. 2020). +[^2]: ProPublica. "An Active-Duty Soldier Was Arrested for Allegedly Planning Terror Attacks." September 23, 2019. https://www.propublica.org/article/an-active-duty-soldier-was-arrested-for-allegedly-planning-terror-attacks; CNBC. "US Army Soldier Arrested After Talking About Bombing News Network, Attacking Leftist Groups." September 23, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/23/us-army-member-arrested-after-talking-about-bombing-news-network.html +[^3]: ADL. "U.S. Army Specialist with Links to Neo-Nazi Group Pleads Guilty." February 2020. https://www.adl.org/resources/article/us-army-specialist-links-neo-nazi-group-pleads-guilty; ICSR. "Feuerkrieg Division: From Online Trolling to Real-World Violence." 2020. https://icsr.info/2020/01/feuerkrieg-division-from-online-trolling-to-real-world-violence/ +[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D.Kan. "Former Fort Riley Soldier Sentenced For Distributing Info on Napalm, IEDs." August 19, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ks/pr/former-fort-riley-soldier-sentenced-distributing-info-napalm-ieds; Kansas City Star. "Army soldier at Fort Riley who wanted to blow up CNN, kill Democrats sentenced to prison." August 19, 2020. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jeffrey Roussel.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jeffrey Roussel.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c0014889 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jeffrey Roussel.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NVE + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - ChildExploitation + - Canada + - Quebec + - FederalCase + - TerroristConviction +born: 2000 +location: "Quebec City, Quebec, Canada" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Jeffrey Roussel is a Quebec City resident charged in April 2026 under Canadian terrorism statutes for promoting 764 via Telegram, among the first prosecutions under Canada's December 2025 terrorist entity designation of 764." +--- + +[[Jeffrey Roussel]] (born approximately 2000, [[Quebec City]] area, [[Quebec]], Canada) was arrested on April 22, 2026 and charged with three counts under the terrorism provisions of the [[Criminal Code of Canada]] for operating and promoting a [[Telegram]] group that disseminated the violent ideology and content of the [[764 Network|764]] network. The arrest was conducted by the [[RCMP]]'s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET). Roussel's prosecution is among the first, and may be the first, under Canada's December 2025 formal designation of 764 as a terrorist entity.[^1] + +### Charges + +Roussel was charged under three provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada: +- Section 83.18: Participation in the activity of a terrorist group +- Section 83.19: Facilitating terrorist activity +- Section 83.2: Commission of an indictable offense for a terrorist group + +The charges relate to his alleged operation of a Telegram group through which he published and distributed graphic, violent, and highly disturbing content with the intent to inspire and recruit others to the 764 network. His documented victims were primarily teenagers.[^1] + +### Canada's 764 Terrorist Designation + +Canada designated 764 as a terrorist entity in December 2025, making it one of the few countries to formally classify the network as such. The December 2025 designation followed a series of international enforcement actions against 764 and [[The Com]] ecosystem in 2024-2025, including the U.S. federal indictment of [[Baron Cain Martin]] in October 2025 (which included a terrorism count) and the arrests of 764 Inferno leaders [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]] in April 2025. + +The RCMP press release explicitly cited Canada's December 2025 terrorist entity designation as the basis for bringing terrorism charges rather than the child exploitation and cybercrime statutes that had governed prior 764-related prosecutions in Canada. The Crown opposed bail at Roussel's initial hearing.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: RCMP. "RCMP arrests man linked to violent extremist network 764." April 2026. https://rcmp.ca/en/news/2026/04/4352326; CBC News. "Quebec man faces terrorism charges linked to 764 violent extremism group." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-man-terrorism-charges-764-violent-extremism-9.7173346 +[^2]: Globe and Mail. "Quebec man arrested in connection with 764 terror group." https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-764-terror-group-recruit-arrest/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Joshua Caleb Sutter.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Joshua Caleb Sutter.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9c6a4ebc --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Joshua Caleb Sutter.md @@ -0,0 +1,146 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - O9A + - TemplovBlood + - FBI + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Satanism + - MartinetPress + - FBIInformant + - AryanNations +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Joshua Caleb Sutter was a paid FBI informant from 2003 through at least 2021 whose handler directed him to infiltrate Atomwaffen Division while he simultaneously operated Martinet Press, publishing O9A texts that AWD required members to read." +born: 1981 +location: "Lexington, South Carolina" +--- + +[[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] (born 1981, also known under the alias Wulfran Hall) is an American neo-Nazi, Satanist, and leader of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) American nexion [[Tempel ov Blood]], who was simultaneously a paid [[FBI]] informant from 2003 to at least 2021. During that period the FBI paid him more than $140,000 for work that included infiltrating [[Atomwaffen Division]] from the inside, while Sutter used those funds in part to operate [[Martinet Press]], a publishing house he ran with his wife [[Jillian Hoy]] that produced the O9A texts subsequently distributed to AWD members and, through [[Terrorgram]] channels, into the broader accelerationist radicalization ecosystem feeding the [[764 Network|764]] network. His identity as an FBI informant was publicly confirmed in 2021 through court documents obtained and published by investigative journalist [[Ali Winston]] in the federal case against Atomwaffen Division leader [[Kaleb Cole]].[^1] + +### Original Criminal Case + +Sutter was arrested on February 12, 2003, in [[Uwchlan Township]], Pennsylvania, by the [[Philadelphia JTTF|FBI's Philadelphia Joint Terrorism Task Force]]. Undercover agents had met him in a parking lot and sold him a Glock 40 with a destroyed serial number and a separately charged unregistered silencer. This was a joint operation that simultaneously targeted [[David Wayne Hull]], the Imperial Wizard of the [[White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan]], who was arrested the same day.[^2] + +The original criminal case is [[United States v. Sutter (2003)]], Crim. No. 2:03-cr-00158-ER-1 ([[Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]), before Judge [[Eduardo C. Robreno]]. Sutter entered a not-guilty plea on March 27, 2003, then reversed to a guilty plea on May 14, 2003. Sentencing was held in August 2003. He was released from federal prison in 2004, reportedly early as a result of his agreement to cooperate.[^3] + +### Early Life and Aryan Nations + +Sutter was born in 1981, the son of a white supremacist activist. He became involved in the Christian Identity movement and the far right at an early age. By the early 2000s he was serving as a Pennsylvania-area leader of [[Aryan Nations]], one of the most prominent neo-Nazi organizations in the United States at the time. + +### FBI Recruitment and Informant Work + +During or shortly after his 2003 arrest, Sutter agreed to become an FBI informant. He served a brief period of federal prison time in Georgia, then was released early in 2004 as a direct result of his cooperation. At trial in September 2021, Sutter testified under oath about his recruitment. His exact words, as obtained by USA TODAY from trial transcripts: "It was proposed that I could act in a deep-cover capacity. I was instructed to continue the relationships that I had in the right wing."[^4] This language confirms that the FBI did not retask him out of the far right; it explicitly directed him to maintain and deepen those relationships. + +His primary FBI handler was Special Agent [[Bill Moser]] of the [[FBI Columbia Field Office]] in [[Columbia, South Carolina]]. Moser directed Sutter to join [[Atomwaffen Division]] and later directed his participation in AWD events including the [[2018 AWD Death Valley Hate Camp]] (February 2018) and the [[2019 AWD Nuclear Congress]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] (September 2019).[^5] Rolling Stone reporting confirmed Moser as handler. No other named FBI agents associated with Sutter's informant work have been publicly confirmed. + +From 2003 to at least 2021, Sutter received a total of more than $140,000 from the FBI, including $78,133.20 plus an expense advance of $4,378.60 beginning February 7, 2018, a period that court documents in the Cole case noted "almost entirely coincides with his work on the investigation into Mr. Cole" and the broader Atomwaffen Division probe.[^1] + +### Prior Operations: Aryan Nations and the North Korea Front + +Sutter's informant history before the AWD period involved two distinct operational strands. + +The first was within Aryan Nations. Sutter had served as the "Minister for Islamic Liaison" for Aryan Nations, a role in which he claimed to pursue alliances with international Islamist movements. After his 2003 conviction, he was positioned to report on [[August Kreis III]], then director of a South Carolina Aryan Nations faction. Sutter and Kreis worked together out of Sutter's Lexington home. According to contemporaneous reporting, Sutter talked Kreis into publicly pledging support to [[al-Qaeda]], a stunt that drew FBI investigation to Kreis.[^2] Kreis was subsequently charged in 2011 with VA benefits fraud (collecting nearly $193,000 in military pension benefits he was not eligible to receive) and sentenced to six months served in [[U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina|U.S. District Court in Columbia, S.C.]][^6] + +The second strand was the [[Rural People's Party]] (RPP), a pro-[[North Korea|DPRK]]/[[Juche]] front group that Sutter founded and ran from his Lexington home. The RPP promoted North Korea, idolized the [[Kim dynasty]], and distributed DPRK propaganda. According to secondary reporting, the FBI purchased Sutter's family home and used it as the base for this operation, which was directed at surveilling and targeting pro-DPRK Americans.[^7] Sutter was also described as the main propagandist for the [[Songun Politics Study Group USA]], a separate DPRK-affiliated network, before later migrating to [[Hindu esotericism]] and then to O9A.[^5] + +### Tempel ov Blood and Martinet Press + +After his 2004 release, Sutter married Jillian Hoy, who served as director of Martinet Press, a publishing house specializing in occult neo-Nazi literature. Through Martinet Press, Sutter authored and published the central texts of the American O9A tradition, including: + +*[[Iron Gates]]* (2014, 406 pp.): A novel set seventy years after a nuclear war, depicting a gang of Satanists committing acts of extreme violence including infanticide, cannibalism, rape, sodomy, torture, and pedophilia, framed as spiritual instruction for O9A adherents. The book is available in its full text through the Internet Archive. It became required reading for Atomwaffen Division members under [[John Cameron Denton]] and was distributed through Terrorgram channels into the broader accelerationist network.[^8] + +*Liber 333*: An O9A text published by Martinet Press. + +*Bluebird*: An O9A text published by Martinet Press. + +Sutter used FBI informant payments to fund Martinet Press operations. The financial flow, as documented through the Cole court filings, means that the U.S. government materially subsidized the production and distribution of the O9A texts that radicalized Atomwaffen Division members and, through the subsequent distribution pipeline, contributed to the broader accelerationist ecosystem.[^1] + +Whether the FBI explicitly authorized founding Tempel ov Blood and operating Martinet Press has not been confirmed in any available public document. The FBI declined to comment on Sutter's publishing activities when asked by Rolling Stone.[^5] + +### Infiltrating Atomwaffen Division + +Sutter joined Atomwaffen Division in the spring of 2017, operating under the online alias "swissdiscipline." His entry into AWD came after AWD's Texas leader Denton, fascinated by Tempel ov Blood's combination of National Socialism and Satanic occultism, invited ToB members into the group. Sutter rapidly became an important figure within AWD's leadership structure, and through him, at least nine Tempel ov Blood members held key positions in the organization at the peak of this relationship.[^5] + +Sutter attended AWD's "Hate Camp" paramilitary training sessions in 2017 and 2018. These camps combined firearms training, physical conditioning, and ideological instruction. He organized the [[2019 AWD Nuclear Congress]] in Las Vegas, Nevada in September 2019, AWD's national leadership gathering, using his FBI-provided funds to cover member travel and lodging. [[James Mason]], the author of *[[Siege]]*, made his first documented in-person appearance with AWD at the Nuclear Congress, delivering speeches calling for murder and lone-wolf attacks.[^5] + +Denton made Sutter's books (*Iron Gates*, *Liber 333*, *Bluebird*) required or approved reading for AWD members. The ideological shift provoked substantial internal controversy: members who had joined AWD as National Socialists objected to the incorporation of Satanism, and several left the group. Those who remained were exposed to the O9A framework in which murder was construed as spiritual service and transgressive violence as a form of initiatory development. + +### The Cole Case and Public Revelation + +Sutter's identity as an FBI informant was first publicly established through documents obtained by journalist Ali Winston from federal court proceedings in the case against Kaleb Cole in [[United States v. Shea et al.]], 2:20-cr-00032 ([[Western District of Washington|W.D. Wash.]]), before Judge [[John C. Coughenour]]. Motion-to-suppress filings in the Cole case described a confidential informant without using Sutter's name, but the details were sufficiently specific that identification was apparent to those familiar with the AWD network.[^1] + +### Payment Specifics and the Cole Case Timeline + +The Cole defense motion, filed August 13, 2021, established the following payment structure from court-disclosed figures: + +- Total paid since 2003: over $140,000 +- Specific amount from February 7, 2018 onward: $78,133.20 in direct payments plus an expense advance of $4,378.60 +- The motion noted that the February 7, 2018 start date "almost entirely coincides with his work on the investigation into Mr. Cole" and the broader AWD probe + +The [[2018 AWD Death Valley Hate Camp]] took place February 2018, the same month the intensified payment period began. Photographs obtained during the investigation confirmed Sutter attended under his alias "swissdiscipline."[^9] + +Cole was convicted September 2021 and sentenced to 84 months in January 2022. + +### The Suppression Motion and Government Response + +Cole's defense argued that the search warrant affidavit was defective under the doctrine established in [[Franks v. Delaware]] (1978) because it failed to disclose the CI's criminal history and paid status. The motion described the CI, without naming Sutter, as: "a convicted felon and currently owns and operates a publishing company that distributes white supremacist writings." It further stated: "The CI began his long career as a professional informant in exchange for consideration regarding his sentence on a federal conviction for possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and an unregistered silencer."[^10] + +The DOJ's response acknowledged the deficiency but contested its legal significance: "Although the defense is correct that certain potential impeachment information about the informant was not included in the affidavit, that omission is hardly fatal."[^10] Judge Coughenour sided with the government: "The FBI's longstanding relationship with the informant and the compensation it paid to him, approximately $140,000 over a sixteen-year period, does not impugn his credibility."[^11] The motion was denied without a Franks hearing. + +Critically, neither the government's brief nor the judge's ruling addressed whether the FBI authorized or was aware of Sutter's operation of Martinet Press during the informant period. The revelation provoked immediate controversy. Critics from the far right charged that the FBI had effectively subsidized the radicalization of AWD through Sutter's continued operation of Martinet Press. Critics from civil libertarians and researchers argued the FBI had failed to adequately supervise an informant who was simultaneously producing extremist material while being paid to gather intelligence on extremist networks. From the government's perspective, Sutter's informant work was credited as "instrumental in the prosecutions" against Atomwaffen Division members.[^1] + +### Downstream Prosecution: the NSO / Suzuki Case + +After AWD rebranded as [[National Socialist Order]] (NSO) in July 2020, Sutter's alias "swissdiscipline" continued to appear in the group's encrypted communications. In 2022, these records contributed to the prosecution of [[Aubrey Sakai Suzuki]], 21, of [[Nesbit, Mississippi]], who had posted on an NSO website about killing Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ people and "blowing up the system." Suzuki pleaded guilty on June 30, 2022, in the Northern District of Mississippi, to one count of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.[^12] The Suzuki case represents a confirmed downstream prosecution in which Sutter's active informant presence inside the group generated a prosecutable lead. + +### FBI Authorization of Publishing Activities: What the Record Shows + +The public record on whether the FBI explicitly authorized Sutter's Martinet Press operations is as follows: + +- The court documents describe him as "currently" operating a publishing company distributing white supremacist writings, present tense, during his active informant period +- The government's suppression brief did not contest this characterization and did not assert that the publishing activities were authorized +- Judge Coughenour's ruling did not address the publishing activities +- The FBI declined to comment when asked by Rolling Stone whether it knew about or approved Sutter's publishing role +- No document in the public record shows explicit FBI authorization of Martinet Press +- No document shows an explicit FBI prohibition on the publishing activities + +The gap between these two absences, no authorization and no prohibition, is the unresolved core of the legal and political accountability question. Rolling Stone cited journalist [[Jake Hanrahan]] on this point: "to not check in on the material he's publishing, which promotes murdering children and pedophilia, that's not doing your fucking job."[^5] + +### Congressional Oversight + +No congressional committee, senator, or representative has filed a formal oversight letter, held a hearing, or made any indexed floor statement specifically demanding that the FBI account for its informant relationship with Sutter or its concurrent funding of Martinet Press. The 117th Congress (2021-2022) Judiciary Committee's FBI oversight hearings do not reference Sutter, Martinet Press, or the Cole case. This absence appears to be genuine rather than a search artifact. + +### Post-Revelation Status + +Sutter was not charged with any crime connected to his Martinet Press activities following the 2021 revelation of his informant status. Rolling Stone's 2022 follow-up noted: "Joshua Sutter, the FBI informant and leading O9A proselytizer, is a free man and still selling Satanist books."[^13] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Vice. "FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim." 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/fbi-bankrolled-publisher-of-occult-neo-nazi-books-feds-claim/; Ali Winston (journalist). August 2021. https://x.com/awinston/status/1429086087830515717 + +[^2]: Religion News Blog / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Federal investigators infiltrate extremist groups." February 2003. https://www.religionnewsblog.com/2476/federal-investigators-infiltrate-extremist-groups + +[^3]: United States v. Sutter, 2:03-cr-00158-ER-1 (E.D. Pa., Judge Eduardo C. Robreno). CourtListener docket 8143981. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/8143981/united-states-v-sutter/ + +[^4]: Trial testimony of Joshua Sutter, United States v. Shea et al., 2:20-cr-00032 (W.D. Wash.), September 2021. DocumentCloud document 22056395. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22056395-trial-testimony-of-joshua-sutter/ Quote also reproduced in Yahoo News / USA TODAY, September 2021. + +[^5]: Winston, Ali. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers," *Rolling Stone,* 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ + +[^6]: SPLC Hatewatch. "Neo-Nazi Leader August Kreis Sentenced for Fraud." December 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/neo-nazi-leader-august-kreis-sentenced-fraud/ + +[^7]: Secondary reporting aggregated from multiple sources including TRAC Insight and archived blog reporting. No primary document confirms the FBI purchased Sutter's home; the claim appears in secondary sources but has not been confirmed in court filings. + +[^8]: Internet Archive. *Iron Gates* (Tempel ov Blood / Martinet Press, 2014). https://archive.org/details/tempel-ov-blood-iron-gates-text + +[^9]: Pahrump Valley Times. "Neo-Nazi group conducts weapons training near Death Valley." 2018. https://pvtimes.com/uncategorized/neo-nazi-group-conducts-weapons-training-near-death-valley/ + +[^10]: Defense motion to suppress and government response, United States v. Shea et al., 2:20-cr-00032 (W.D. Wash.), August 13, 2021. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/kaleb-cole-august-13-2021-motion-to-suppress-1 + +[^11]: Order Denying Motion to Suppress, United States v. Cole, Case No. CR20-0032-JCC (W.D. Wash., August 30, 2021). Leagle.com: infdco20210901708. + +[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-NDMS. "Nesbit Man Sentenced To Prison for Racist Threats." October 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndms/pr/nesbit-man-sentenced-prison-racist-threats + +[^13]: Winston, Ali. "Plea Deal in the Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers," *Rolling Stone,* 2022. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/neo-nazi-1378280/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Justin Sher.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Justin Sher.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5741d805 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Justin Sher.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +--- +category: "Law Enforcement & Legal" +tags: + - Person + - DOJ + - NationalSecurityDivision + - NVE + - TerrorismProsecutor + - FederalCase +summary: "Justin Sher is a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section and the lead federal prosecutor on 764 Network terrorism cases, including the first-ever terrorism charge against a 764 member in United States v. Martin." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +location: "Washington, D.C." +--- + +Justin Sher is a Trial Attorney assigned to the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] National Security Division's [[Counterterrorism Section]], where he has served as the lead government attorney on the [[764 Network]] prosecution portfolio, including the prosecution of [[Baron Cain Martin]] in [[United States v. Martin (4-25-cr-00190)|United States v. Martin]], 4:25-cr-00190-TUC-AMM(BGM), D. Ariz., the first federal case in which a 764 member was charged under a terrorism statute. + +### 764 Prosecution Portfolio + +Sher's involvement spans multiple 764 and [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism]] (NVE) federal prosecutions across districts, coordinated through the [[National Security Division]] in Washington. Alongside [[James Donnelly]], who serves as DOJ's designated NVE domestic terrorism coordinator, Sher represents the National Security Division's institutional investment in treating 764 not as a child exploitation enterprise but as a terrorist network subject to the full range of national security charging tools. + +In the Martin indictment, Sher advanced the theory that [[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]] (conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists) is available against 764 operators without any [[Foreign Terrorist Organization]] designation from the State Department, by anchoring the charge to an [[18 U.S.C. § 956|18 U.S.C. § 956(a)]] conspiracy to kill or maim a victim located outside the United States.[^1] + +Sher was also the attorney of record on the [[United States v. Nepal]] and [[United States v. Varagiannis]] prosecutions (D.D.C., case 1:25-cr-00304), which charged [[764 Inferno]] leaders [[Prasan Nepal]] and [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] with participating in a child exploitation enterprise and related offenses but did not include terrorism counts.[^2] + +### Public Statements + +At a panel hosted by the [[GWU Program on Extremism]] on December 18, 2025, titled "Holding 764 Accountable," Sher described 764's stated objective as "to cause the downfall of society, cause the downfall of the U.S. government," and characterized the network's ideology as a desire for "a Darwinian society, one that is survival of the fittest." He stated that the conduct documented in 764 cases was so extreme that "I don't think Stephen King is dark enough to come up with some of the stuff that these kids are coming up with."[^3] + +In a subsequent appearance cited by [[ABC News]], Sher and Donnelly together offered what were described as "rare public comments" for career DOJ prosecutors, characterizing 764 as a threat equal in seriousness to any the department had faced, and noting that network members are increasingly directing victims toward mass-casualty attacks including school shootings.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Baumgartner, Luke, and Barry Jonas. "How the DOJ is Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism as Domestic Terrorism." *Just Security,* December 9, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/126226/prosecuting-nihilistic-violent-extremism-domestic-terrorism/ + +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-DC. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 30, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise + +[^3]: ABC News. "In rare public comments, career DOJ officials offer chilling warnings about online network 764." 2026. https://abcnews.com/US/rare-public-comments-career-doj-officials-offer-chilling/story?id=128526657; GWU Program on Extremism. "Holding 764 Accountable." December 18, 2025. https://extremism.gwu.edu/holding-764-accountable diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kristopher Erik Nippak.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kristopher Erik Nippak.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..70d59e65 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kristopher Erik Nippak.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Canada + - Ontario + - TerrorismCharges + - ActiveClub +summary: "Kristopher Erik Nippak is an East York, Ontario Terrorgram Collective and Atomwaffen Division member arrested December 8, 2023, charged with one count of participation in the activities of a terrorist group, and awaiting a judge-alone trial scheduled to begin in Toronto in January 2026." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +location: "East York, Ontario, Canada" +--- + +[[Kristopher Erik Nippak]] of [[East York, Ontario]] was arrested on December 8, 2023, alongside [[Matthew Althorpe]] of Thorold, Ontario, following an 18-month [[RCMP]] investigation that covered alleged offenses dating from April 2018 through the arrest date. Nippak faces one count of participation in the activities of a terrorist group under the Criminal Code of Canada in connection with his creation of propaganda videos for [[Atomwaffen Division]] and manifestos for the [[Terrorgram Collective]]. He was granted bail (with conditions) following initial detention, in contrast to Althorpe, who was denied bail twice. A judge-alone trial in Toronto was scheduled to begin in January 2026.[^1] + +### RCMP Investigation and Alleged Conduct + +The RCMP investigation covered alleged offenses beginning in April 2018, corresponding to the early period of both AWD's international expansion and the pre-Terrorgram accelerationist Telegram ecosystem. Prosecutors presented the court with manifestos, videos, thumbnails, photos, and documents contained on hard drives seized from Althorpe's computer during the investigation, with Nippak's alleged contributions to that shared material base forming the basis of his participation charge. + +Specifically, Nippak was alleged to have participated in the creation of recruiting videos for Atomwaffen Division and in the creation of a series of manifestos and terrorism manuals for the Terrorgram Collective. The reference to AWD videos placed his alleged conduct in the pre-Terrorgram period (2018-2019) through the Terrorgram publication era (2021-2022). + +Separately from the terrorism case, investigative reporting by Vice World News exposed Nippak as a significant figure within [[Active Club Canada]], the Canadian branch of the far-right physical fitness and organizing network associated with American white nationalist Robert Rundo. Nippak traveled extensively to network with European white nationalist organizations and Active Club chapters. This public exposure preceded his arrest. + +### Charges, Bail Proceedings, and Trial Status + +The RCMP charged Nippak with one count of participation in the activities of a terrorist group, significantly fewer charges than the eight-count indictment facing Althorpe. Nippak's bail was contested on multiple grounds. Unlike Althorpe, who was detained pending trial after two denied bail applications, Nippak was ultimately granted bail with conditions. + +Nippak elected to proceed by judge-alone trial rather than jury. A six-week judge-alone trial in Toronto was scheduled to begin in January 2026. As of May 2026, no verdict had been reported.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CBC News. "Ontario men arrested on terrorism charges linked to neo-Nazi movement." December 2023. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rcmp-terror-charges-1.7053162; Global News. "2 Ontario men accused of belonging to neo-Nazi terrorism group." December 2023. https://globalnews.ca/news/10157791/ontario-terrorism-charges/ +[^2]: Canadian Anti-Hate Network. "Alleged Canadian Terrorgram Author Denied Bail On Terrorism Charges For A Second Time." https://www.antihate.ca/alleged_canadian_terrorgram_author_denied_bail_terrorism_charges_for_a_second_time; Canadian Anti-Hate Network. "Alleged Terrorgram Author Will Remain In Detention While Co-Accused Granted Bail." https://www.antihate.ca/alleged_terrorgram_author_remain_detention_atomwaffen; Scribd. "Charges Against Althorpe and Nippak." https://www.scribd.com/document/690868778/Charging-documents-Kristoffer-Nippak-and-Mathew-Althorpe diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kyle Spitze.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kyle Spitze.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..315e9c69 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kyle Spitze.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TheCom + - HarmNation + - CSAM + - ChildExploitation + - AnimalCrushing + - FederalCase + - USA + - Tennessee +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Kyle William Spitze, alias 'Criminal,' is a Maryville, Tennessee 764/Harm Nation member who pleaded guilty in December 2024 in the Eastern District of Tennessee to CSAM production and animal crushing charges, facing 30 years to life at sentencing." +born: 1998 +location: "Maryville, Tennessee" +--- + +[[Kyle Spitze|Kyle William Spitze]], known online as "Criminal" and "CRIMINALOLI," is a 26-year-old resident of [[Maryville, Tennessee]] (Blount County) who was a member of both the [[764 Network]] and its splinter group [[Harm Nation]]. He is the most publicly documented Harm Nation prosecution as of mid-2026. Spitze pleaded guilty on December 16, 2024, before U.S. District Judge [[Thomas A. Varlan]] in the [[U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee]] (Knoxville) to federal charges of producing child pornography, distributing animal crushing videos, and possessing child sexual abuse material.[^1] + +### Criminal Conduct + +Spitze operated across [[Telegram]] and related platforms under aliases including "Criminal" and "CRIMINALOLI," using these handles within 764 and Harm Nation spaces to produce, distribute, and receive child sexual abuse material. + +Court documents describe two categories of conduct. In the first, Spitze shared sexual videos of young children to a Telegram channel; some of these videos included variations of his online username written in blood or carved onto the bodies of minor victims. In the second, Spitze filmed the mutilation of a chicken in a bathtub, with the animal's intestines arranged to spell out his username, and distributed this content as "animal crushing" material within the network. + +Spitze was also accused of enticing a minor and possessing child sexual abuse material with intent to view it. + +### Arrest and Charges + +Spitze was initially charged at the state level in Blount County. A federal superseding indictment was returned on March 2, 2024, in the Eastern District of Tennessee, charging eight counts: + +1. Production of child pornography (Count 1) +2. Production of child pornography (Count 2) +3. Production of child pornography (Count 3) +4. Enticement of a minor (Count 4) +5. Distribution of animal crushing videos (Count 5) +6. Distribution of animal crushing videos (Count 6) +7. Distribution of animal crushing videos (Count 7) +8. Possession with intent to view child pornography (Count 8) + +Spitze was held in custody pending proceedings. + +### Guilty Plea + +On December 16, 2024, Spitze entered a guilty plea before Judge [[Thomas A. Varlan]] to Counts 1, 6, 7, and 8 (one production count, all three animal crushing distribution counts, and the possession count). Counts 2, 3, 4, and 5 were dropped pursuant to the plea agreement. + +The two production of child pornography counts carry a statutory sentencing range of 15 to 30 years each. The plea agreement subjects Spitze to a potential aggregate sentence of 30 years to life in federal prison, plus mandatory supervision restrictions.[^2] + +### Sentencing + +A sentencing hearing before Judge Varlan was scheduled for January 8, 2026, then cancelled by court order signed December 23, 2025. No new sentencing date had been publicly set as of mid-2026. The case docket is United States v. Spitze-TV1, 3:24-cr-00025 (E.D. Tenn.). + +### Father's Prosecution + +Spitze's father, [[Michael W. Spitze]], 60, of [[Maryland]], was separately charged in connection with the case. Michael Spitze contacted a 12-year-old victim of his son's crimes and sent her a message reading "Please delete anything you think might not help him. And encourage anyone else to delete in his behalf," constituting witness tampering. He pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a witness. His sentencing before the United States District Court in Knoxville was scheduled for May 20, 2026.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: WBIR. "Blount Co. man signs plea deal after being accused of violent, sexual crimes against children." December 2024. https://www.wbir.com/article/news/crime/kyle-spitze-pleads-guilty-blount-county/51-f6ba606c-479d-4c74-aa11-bf839732a437; Ali Winston / X. March 21, 2024. https://x.com/awinston/status/1770949384538087652 +[^2]: CourtListener. "United States v. Spitze-TV1, 3:24-cr-00025, Eastern District of Tennessee." https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68361688/united-states-v-spitze-tv1/; The Daily Times (Maryville, TN). "Federal judge reschedules Spitze sentencing hearing." https://www.thedailytimes.com/news/federal-judge-reschedules-spitze-sentencing-hearing/article_ca8a75c8-8325-48a4-91c1-be09520f478f.html +[^3]: WBIR. "Dad who tried to get child victim to delete evidence against his son faces May sentencing." 2026. https://www.wbir.com/article/news/crime/dad-who-tried-to-help-blount-co-son-accused-in-online-sex-case-reaches-plea-agreement-with-feds/51-57106d7b-af46-46a8-9b71-e6f7ede631d9; The Daily Times. "Michael Spitze joins son in facing federal charges." https://www.thedailytimes.com/news/michael-spitze-joins-son-in-facing-federal-charges/article_f16ca3f7-7058-4315-a7c1-22be4092a50f.html diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michael Szewczuk.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michael Szewczuk.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..092e717d --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michael Szewczuk.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - SonnenkriegDivision + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - Accelerationism + - Leeds +location: "Leeds, West Yorkshire, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Michael Szewczuk was a 19-year-old Leeds resident who co-founded the Sonnenkrieg Division and was sentenced in June 2019 to four years and three months at the Old Bailey for encouraging terrorism and possessing terrorist manuals including imagery targeting Prince Harry as a 'race traitor' for execution." +--- + +Michael Szewczuk, 19, of Leeds, West Yorkshire, was a co-founder of [[Sonnenkrieg Division]] (SKD), the British neo-Nazi accelerationist organisation that emerged from the post-proscription milieu of [[National Action]] and was modelled on [[Atomwaffen Division]] with explicit [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) philosophical content incorporated into its ideology. He was sentenced at the [[Old Bailey]] on 18 June 2019 by Judge [[Rebecca Poulet QC]] to four years and three months in a Young Offenders' Institute after pleading guilty to seven terrorism offences.[^1] + +### Offences + +Szewczuk operated a personal account on the [[Gab]] social media platform under a pseudonym and shared administrative control of SKD's Gab page. He pleaded guilty to: + +Two counts of encouraging terrorism under section 1 of the [[Terrorism Act 2006]]. + +Five counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]], including the White Resistance Manual and the Al Qaeda Manual. + +The Gab content Szewczuk produced and posted included an image of [[Prince Harry]], Duke of Sussex, with a gun to his head on a blood-spattered background, captioned to identify the Duke as a "race traitor" who should be shot because of his relationship with [[Meghan Markle]]. Other content glorified [[Anders Behring Breivik]], the Norwegian mass murderer responsible for the 2011 [[Utoya]] and Oslo attacks that killed 77 people, and included material calling for ethnic cleansing.[^1] + +### Sentencing Remarks + +Judge Rebecca Poulet QC, sentencing both Szewczuk and [[Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski]] on the same day, described the content as "abhorrent as well as criminal by reason of their clear intention to encourage terrorist acts."[^2] + +### Sonnenkrieg Division and O9A + +Sonnenkrieg Division was founded by [[Andrew Dymock]] after his departure from the [[System Resistance Network]] (SRN), incorporating O9A philosophy heavily into SKD's ideological framework. Szewczuk's role was as a co-founder and Gab operator. The Home Secretary proscribed SKD under the Terrorism Act 2000 in 2019, after Szewczuk and Dunn-Koczorowski had been charged but before their sentencing. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Washington Post. "Two British teens just convicted for promoting far-right terrorism online." June 18, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/06/18/two-british-teens-just-convicted-promoting-far-right-terrorism-online/; CNN. "Far-right teen who branded Prince Harry 'race traitor' jailed for four years." June 18, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/18/uk/teenager-szewczuk-prince-harry-jailed-far-right-extremism-terrorism-gbr-scli-intl/index.html + +[^2]: HOPE not hate. "Jailed neo-Nazi Satanists were a legacy of National Action." June 18, 2019. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2019/06/18/jailed-neo-nazi-satanists-legacy-national-action/; Yorkshire Post. "Far-right Leeds extremist jailed for 'abhorrent' post branding Prince Harry a 'race traitor'." 2019. https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/far-right-leeds-extremist-jailed-for-abhorrent-post-branding-prince-harry-a-race-traitor-479920 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michele Prado.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michele Prado.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c38e2060 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michele Prado.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +category: "Authors & Journalists" +tags: + - Person + - Brazil + - Accelerationism + - CounterExtremism + - StopHateBrasil +location: "Bahia, Brazil" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Michele Prado is a Brazilian researcher and founder of the NGO Stop Hate Brasil who since 2022 has monitored Terrorgram Collective channels operating in Brazil, submitted reports to ABIN and the Ministry of Justice, and documented the online radicalization pipeline connected to the wave of Brazilian school attacks from 2022 onward." +--- + +Michele Prado is a Brazilian researcher based in [[Bahia]] and the founder of [[Stop Hate Brasil]], a non-governmental organization focused on combating far-right online extremism in Brazil. She also serves on a voluntary consulting basis to Brazilian public security agencies, civil society groups, and the federal government on online extremism prevention. She has received support from the [[Social Change Initiative]] and has collaborated with Brazilian federal institutions including [[ABIN]] (Agência Brasileira de Inteligência) and the [[Ministry of Justice and Public Security]].[^1] + +### Stop Hate Brasil + +Stop Hate Brasil (also written Stop Hate Brazil) is a Brazilian NGO founded by Prado to identify, document, and counter far-right extremist content on social media platforms, with particular focus on the radicalization of children and adolescents. By 2024, Prado had documented more than 40 violent incidents in Brazilian school settings with some connection to online extremist networks over a three-year span. Stop Hate Brasil's research found that at least two [[Terrorgram Collective]] channels operating in Brazil had been created by adolescents, pointing to the network's exploitation of youth as both targets and participants in its infrastructure.[^2] + +### 2023 ABIN Report + +In 2023, Prado submitted a formal report to ABIN and the [[Ministry of Justice and Public Security]] identifying Telegram channels linked to Terrorgram members operating in Brazil. The report documented the "Wolf Boy Winter" pseudonym, used by an as-yet-unidentified individual who posted surveillance footage from the [[2022 Aracruz School Shootings]] to a major Terrorgram channel approximately two days after the attack and who contributed multiple pages to "[[The Hard Reset]]," a core Terrorgram propaganda publication. The report also documented channels linked to [[Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira]], subsequently designated as a [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] (SDGT) by the US government in January 2025.[^2] + +### Terrorgram Monitoring + +Prado documented that [[Terrorgram Collective]] had been operating in Brazil since approximately 2021 or 2022. Her analysis identified the network's use of mainstream platforms including gaming environments such as [[Roblox]], [[Fortnite]], and [[Minecraft]] as entry points for recruitment, with extremist content introduced via YouTube algorithmic recommendations adjacent to gaming content. She noted the network's "ironic" use of Nazi and fascist memes as a normalization strategy targeting youth audiences. This methodology was subsequently corroborated by the Lancet Regional Health (Americas) analysis published in March 2024 and by GNET's November 2024 assessment of the Brazilian accelerationist landscape.[^2][^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Social Change Initiative. "Michele Prado." https://www.socialchangeinitiative.com/michele-prado + +[^2]: GNET. "Terrorgram and Youth Radicalisation: Understanding Brazil's Online Extremist Landscape," November 22, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/11/22/terrorgram-and-youth-radicalisation-understanding-brazils-online-extremist-landscape/; Raw Story. "'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the world." https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/terrorgram-terrorism/ + +[^3]: The Lancet Regional Health (Americas). "The rise of school shootings and other related attacks in Brazil," March 27, 2024. PIIS2667-193X(24)00051-6. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(24)00051-6/fulltext diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Natalie Rupnow.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Natalie Rupnow.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f3663923 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Natalie Rupnow.md @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NVE + - TerrorgramCollective + - TrueCrimeCommunity + - SaintsCulture + - Wisconsin + - USA + - MassShooter +born: 2009-11-07 +location: "Madison, Wisconsin" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Natalie Rupnow was a 15-year-old Madison, Wisconsin student who killed two people at Abundant Life Christian School in December 2024 before dying by suicide, having radicalized through WatchPeopleDie, 764-affiliated, and Terrorgram-adjacent content." +--- + +[[Natalie Lynn Rupnow]] (also called "Samantha" in some accounts; born November 7, 2009, [[Madison, Wisconsin]]) attacked Abundant Life Christian School in Madison on December 16, 2024, killing substitute teacher [[Erin M. West]] (42) and fellow student [[Rubi P. Vergara]] (14) and wounding six others before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot while being transported to hospital. She was 15 years old. Investigators recovered a manifesto titled "War Against Humanity" from her home describing humanity as "filth" and expressing admiration for past mass shooters. The [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] (ISD) documented that her radicalization pathway ran from the WatchPeopleDie gore website through 764-affiliated and [[Terrorgram Collective]]-adjacent content. She had joined the [[Telegram]] group that [[Arda Küçükyetim]] created to livestream his August 2024 Eskisehir mosque stabbing. Her account on the WatchPeopleDie website traced to June 2023, the same month that Nashville's [[2025 Antioch High School Shooting|Antioch High School]] shooter [[Solomon Henderson]] created his own account on the same platform; the two had followed each other on [[X (Twitter)|X]].[^1] + +### Radicalization Pathway + +Investigators and ISD researchers documented that Rupnow held 16 social media accounts, nearly all containing references to past mass shooters. The ISD classified her primarily as a [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism|nihilistic violent extremist]] motivated by participation in the True Crime Community (TCC) fandom and the SAVF (Soyjak Attacker Video Fandom) subculture, both of which treat mass killers as cultural figures for consumption and glorification. + +Her documented extremist network engagements included the WatchPeopleDie gore website (joined June 2023), 764-affiliated content, and a Telegram group connected to Küçükyetim's August 2024 Eskisehir attack livestream, which was itself affiliated with Terrorgram Collective. The ADL documented that her radicalization pathway ran from WatchPeopleDie through white supremacist, misogynistic, and antisemitic online spaces. + +The shared June 2023 WatchPeopleDie registration dates and mutual follow between Rupnow and [[Solomon Henderson]] placed both individuals in the same online milieu approximately 18 months before their respective attacks. PBS Wisconsin reported that their online presence overlapped in at least the WatchPeopleDie and X contexts. Nashville Metropolitan Police Department's January 2026 investigation into Henderson found no evidence of co-conspirators or direct coordination between them.[^2] + +### Attack and Weapons + +The attack occurred in a mixed-grade study hall at Abundant Life Christian School during school hours on December 16, 2024. Rupnow used firearms owned by her father, [[Jeffrey Rupnow]] (43), who kept them in a safe but had shared the combination with her. The day before the attack, he removed a Sig Sauer pistol from the safe and asked her to clean it. Six students and one teacher sustained additional wounds beyond the two who were killed. + +Two students were hospitalized in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. Rupnow died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound while being transported to hospital. + +### Legal Outcomes + +Because Rupnow died at the scene, she faced no criminal proceedings. In May 2025, Dane County prosecutors charged her father Jeffrey Rupnow on two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A Dane County Court Commissioner ordered him to stand trial on July 24, 2025. The charges carry a combined maximum of 18 years in prison. + +Rupnow's mother died of an apparent suicide following the shooting.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ISD. "Terror without ideology: The rise of nihilistic violence." https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/terror-without-ideology-the-rise-of-nihilistic-violence-an-isd-investigation/; ADL. "From Gore to Hate: How WatchPeopleDie Serves as a Gateway to Extremism." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/gore-hate-how-watchpeopledie-serves-gateway-extremism +[^2]: PBS Wisconsin. "Madison and Nashville school shooters appear to have crossed paths in online extremist communities." https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/madison-and-nashville-school-shooters-appear-to-have-crossed-paths-in-online-extremist-communities/; Raw Story. "Horrifying website revealed as gateway that linked school shooters." https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/watchpeopledie-teen-school-shooters-both-used-gateway-gore-site-new-report-warns/ +[^3]: PBS Wisconsin. "Judge orders Abundant Life shooter's father to stand trial." https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/judge-orders-abundant-life-shooters-father-to-stand-trial/; WPR. "Mother of Abundant Life shooter dies of apparent suicide." https://www.wpr.org/news/mother-abundant-life-christian-school-shooter-apparent-suicide diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Prasan Nepal.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Prasan Nepal.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..247b5e6c --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Prasan Nepal.md @@ -0,0 +1,28 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - 764Inferno + - ChildExploitation + - NVE + - FederalCase + - NorthCarolina + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Prasan Nepal (alias 'Trippy') co-led the 764 Inferno child exploitation enterprise with Leonidas Varagiannis, arrested in High Point, North Carolina in April 2025 and charged in D.C. with CSAM production and related offenses." +born: 2005 +location: "High Point, North Carolina" +--- + +[[Prasan Nepal]], known online as "Trippy," (born approximately 2005, [[High Point, North Carolina]]) co-led [[764 Inferno]] alongside [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] ("War"), directing the subgroup's child exploitation enterprise against minor victims across multiple jurisdictions. Nepal was arrested in High Point on April 22, 2025, eight days before the [[U.S. Department of Justice|DOJ]] announced charges against both defendants on April 30, 2025 in the [[District of Columbia]]. The charges include production and distribution of [[CSAM]], coercion and enticement of minors, extortion, and conspiracy to operate a child exploitation enterprise. He faces a potential life sentence in federal prison. He was also named as a co-conspirator in the October 2025 federal indictment against [[Baron Cain Martin]] in the District of Arizona.[^1] + +### 764 Inferno Operations + +Nepal and Varagiannis co-led 764 Inferno's operations using [[The Com]] ecosystem's coercive methods: grooming vulnerable young people through encrypted applications, coercing victims into producing explicit and degrading material through psychological manipulation and threats, ordering self-harm documentation ("cut signs" and "blood signs" - photographs of victims cutting symbols into their own skin), and building "Lorebooks" - curated collections of victim abuse content that functioned as internal currency and status markers within the [[764 Network]]. DOJ documents confirmed at least 8 minor victims, some as young as 13, across multiple jurisdictions. + +As a U.S. resident arrested in North Carolina, Nepal faces direct federal prosecution in the District of Columbia with no extradition complications, in contrast to Varagiannis, who was contesting extradition from Greece before the Greek Court of Appeals as of mid-2025.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-DC. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 30, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise; Carolina Journal. "High Point man charged with operating international child exploitation network." April 2025. https://www.carolinajournal.com/high-point-man-charged-with-operating-international-child-exploitation-network/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Rinaldo Nazzaro.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Rinaldo Nazzaro.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fd28ace1 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Rinaldo Nazzaro.md @@ -0,0 +1,129 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TheBase + - NeoNazi + - Paramilitary + - Accelerationism + - Russia + - USA + - DefenseContractor + - GovernmentEmployment +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 1973 +location: "St. Petersburg, Russia" +summary: "Rinaldo Nazzaro, alias 'Norman Spear,' is an American intelligence contractor who founded The Base neo-Nazi paramilitary network in 2018 while directing operations from St. Petersburg, Russia, where he holds dual citizenship and remains uncharged as of 2026 despite active FBI investigation." +--- + +[[Rinaldo Nazzaro]], operating under the alias "Norman Spear," is a New Jersey-born American who worked in U.S. government intelligence and national security roles before founding [[The Base]] in 2018. He built the network as a clandestine paramilitary organization explicitly modeled on jihadist cell structures, using encrypted platforms to recruit, vet, and organize members across the United States and internationally, while directing operations from [[St. Petersburg, Russia]]. His identity remained publicly unknown until January 2020, when The Guardian published an investigation identifying him as Nazzaro following the FBI's first wave of arrests of Base members. He has not been publicly charged in the United States as of 2026.[^1] + +### Biographical Background + +Nazzaro was born in 1973 or 1974 and raised in [[New Jersey]]. He attended [[Delbarton School]], a Catholic preparatory school in Morristown, NJ, graduating in 1991. He enrolled at [[Villanova University]] as a philosophy major in 1991 and withdrew before graduating in 1994, using the name Ronald Nazzaro in university records. In 1999, he completed an internship at the [[National Defense Council Foundation]], a Washington, D.C., defense policy organization. He held an address in North Bergen, NJ, and later a New York City address associated with his contracting firm. In 2012 he married a Russian national. He relocated to Russia with his family in 2017 or 2018 and obtained Russian citizenship in approximately 2017.[^18] + +### National Security Background + +The [[Department of Homeland Security]] confirmed that Nazzaro worked within DHS Intelligence Analysis from 2004 to 2006, coordinating anti-terrorism initiatives. A departmental letter on record thanks him for his "personal work" on DHS Intelligence Analysis operations. The [[U.S. Marine Corps]] issued a letter recognizing his work as an intelligence professional, crediting him with "impressive understanding of the insurgency in [[Afghanistan]]" and responsibility for thirteen enemy casualties. + +Nazzaro also claimed, in encrypted communications later obtained by investigators, that he completed "multiple tours in [[Iraq]] and Afghanistan over five years" as a private contractor, working at [[Victory Base Complex]] near [[Baghdad]] Airport and [[Camp Speicher]] in northern Iraq, and that he served as "a targeteer" who "did target packages" and "supported deliberate clearing ops." He described himself as having briefed special forces officers on military targeting and counterterrorism in 2014 in connection with [[Special Operations Command]] (SOCOM). The Pentagon declined to confirm the SOCOM claim when queried.[^3] + +Before moving to Russia, Nazzaro registered a company in [[New York]] called [[Omega Solutions International]], described in its own marketing as offering access to "a network of security professionals" with expertise in intelligence, counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and psychological operations; the company was cleared by the federal government for defense contracting. After responses to The Guardian's investigation, Nazzaro stated: "I can neither confirm nor deny my work experience."[^3] + +### Omega Solutions International: Corporate Record + +Nazzaro operated a New York limited liability company called [[Omega Solutions International]] LLC, doing business as OSI Division, from at least 2009. The company was registered in [[New York]] and holds state entity number 3860294 in the NY Department of State database. OSI obtained federal [[Commercial and Government Entity]] (CAGE) code 61PL9 on June 24, 2010, and maintained a [[System for Award Management]] (SAM) vendor profile under [[DUNS]] number 962794702. The company's address was 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite N230, New York, NY 10001. Nazzaro registered OSI as a foreign entity in the [[District of Columbia]] as well. + +OSI marketed a proprietary software product called [[WATCHTOWER]], described in its [[USPTO]] trademark filing (serial number 86974351, registration number 5370774) as "downloadable cloud-based and client-based server software for providing unified operational intelligence awareness to command centers and intelligence analysts via automated information sharing and data processing." OSI's first use of the WATCHTOWER mark in commerce was December 1, 2008. The CAGE code expired February 15, 2022 and was not renewed. + +No prime contract awards appear in public contracting databases for OSI or DUNS 962794702. A series of six FOIA requests filed by journalist Jason Wilson in January 2020 to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], [[Defense Contract Management Agency]], [[Department of Defense]], [[Department of Justice]] National Security Division, [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], and [[State Department]] returned no responsive contract documents from any agency. [[Special Operations Command]] (SOCOM) public affairs officer [[Ken McGraw]] specifically stated SOCOM could find no record of a contractor named Nazzaro briefing special forces leaders in 2014 and confirmed SOCOM held no contracts with Omega Solutions. The absence of DCMA and SOCOM prime contracts does not rule out subcontract arrangements routed through prime contractors, which are not indexed in public databases.[^2] + +### DHS Intelligence Analysis Employment + +The [[Department of Homeland Security]] confirmed, through an unnamed spokesperson, that "Rinaldo Nazzaro worked at DHS from 2004 to 2006." Nazzaro posted a letter he attributed to DHS that referenced his work in "DHS/Intelligence Analysis," language consistent with the [[Office of Intelligence and Analysis]] (I&A), the DHS component responsible for terrorism-related intelligence analysis and information sharing. DHS would not authenticate the letter he displayed. No FOIA-released DHS personnel file or position description has appeared in open sources. No specific job title has been publicly disclosed by DHS, and no congressional oversight record confirms the specific component or clearance level associated with his employment there.[^19] + +The DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis was formalized following the Second Stage Review reorganization of DHS in July 2005; Nazzaro's employment (2004-2006) spans the period of the office's initial standup and early operations under the [[Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004]]. Congressional oversight of I&A during this period was active but focused on information-sharing architecture and coordination with the [[National Counterterrorism Center]] rather than individual personnel.[^20] + +### SOCOM Contractor Claims + +In encrypted communications later obtained by investigators and reviewed by journalists, Nazzaro described himself as completing "multiple tours in [[Iraq]] and [[Afghanistan]] over five years" as a private contractor, working at [[Victory Base Complex]] near [[Baghdad]] Airport and [[Camp Speicher]] in northern Iraq, serving as "a targeteer" who "did target packages" and "supported deliberate clearing ops," and briefing special forces officers on military targeting and counterterrorism in 2014. The [[Pentagon]], when queried, responded only that it could not comment on ongoing investigations. SOCOM's Ken McGraw provided the more specific denial noted above.[^5] + +A [[U.S. Marine Corps]] letter Nazzaro displayed credited him as an "intelligence professional" with "impressive understanding of the insurgency in [[Afghanistan]]" and attributed responsibility for thirteen enemy casualties to his work. DHS confirmed employment; the Marine Corps letter's authenticity was not independently verified by press outlets. + +### The Base and Operational Direction + +Nazzaro designed The Base to function as a disciplined vetting-based organization rather than a loose ideological movement. Prospective members contacted the network through encrypted channels and underwent vetting interviews, in which Nazzaro or senior members assessed ideological commitment and willingness to commit violence. Members who passed were expected to attend in-person training events, described in FBI documents as "hate camps", where they practiced firearms handling and survival techniques. + +Nazzaro operated under the alias "Norman Spear" and directed recruitment through The Base's encrypted channels. He communicated directly with members across the United States about both organizational matters and operational planning, including discussions of targeting and violence. His direction from Russia (and the explicit framing of The Base as preparing for an inevitable race war) made the network unusual among American white supremacist organizations in its combination of disciplined tradecraft and remote international leadership.[^2] + +### Identity Exposure and Legal Status + +In January 2020, as the FBI executed simultaneous arrests of Base members in Georgia, Maryland, and other states, The Guardian published an investigation confirming that "Norman Spear" was Rinaldo Nazzaro - an American with a background in U.S. government national security contracting then residing in St. Petersburg. Nazzaro publicly confirmed portions of his identity following the exposure. + +His residence in Russia has complicated potential U.S. prosecution. No extradition request or indictment has been made public as of 2026. Counterterrorism researchers have noted the parallel between his operation of a U.S.-targeted extremist network from Russia and the structural patterns of Russian-origin influence operations, though no direct state connection has been publicly established.[^1] + +### Legal Status and Why No Charges + +As of 2026, Nazzaro has not been publicly indicted or charged in the United States despite directing a U.S.-targeted white supremacist paramilitary network from Russia for eight years. + +FBI: Supervisory Special Agent [[Christopher Tarrant]] of the FBI's [[Detroit]] domestic terrorism unit confirmed in 2022 that the bureau had an open investigation into Nazzaro. A State Department source told VICE News in 2021 that Nazzaro was a [[Department of Justice]] "matter," suggesting a live DOJ criminal referral or grand jury proceeding. Nazzaro told journalists he was "not surprised" the FBI was investigating him and denied wrongdoing.[^6] + +Structural constraint on designation: The Base, as a U.S.-founded and largely U.S.-based organization, cannot be designated as a [[Foreign Terrorist Organization]] under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B because that statute applies only to groups designated by the Secretary of State as foreign organizations. The [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) [[Specially Designated Nationals]] list likewise has no entry for Nazzaro or The Base. This means that, unlike al-Qaeda or ISIS financiers who can be sanctioned regardless of location, Nazzaro cannot be sanctioned through the standard foreign terrorism financial tools available to Treasury. No domestic terrorism statute in U.S. law creates a stand-alone charge for leading a domestic terrorist organization: federal charges against Base members were brought under existing statutes (firearms, civil rights, illegal alien transport) rather than any terrorism-specific charge.[^7] + +Extradition: No U.S.-Russia extradition treaty exists. Russia has provided sanctuary to Nazzaro since at least 2018. He confirmed residency in St. Petersburg on multiple occasions. No Red Notice (Interpol arrest warrant request) for Nazzaro appears in publicly accessible records. + +Allied designations: [[Canada]] listed The Base as a terrorist entity under Order in Council P.C. 2021-31 (February 2, 2021), published in the Canada Gazette Part 2, Vol. 155, No. 2, alongside [[Atomwaffen Division]], the [[Proud Boys]], and the [[Russian Imperial Movement]]. [[United Kingdom]] proscribed The Base under The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2021 (SI 2021 No. 1318), debated in the House of Lords on July 15, 2021. [[Australia]] announced The Base's designation as a terrorist organization on November 24, 2021, the country's second far-right designation after [[Sonnenkrieg Division]]. [[New Zealand]] designated The Base in June 2022. The [[European Union]] designated The Base under Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2055 and Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/2056 on July 26, 2024 (the EU's first ever far-right terrorist designation), under its CP 931 sanctions framework. The United States has made no equivalent designation.[^8] + +### Russia Connection: Assessments + +Nazzaro appeared on Kremlin-controlled [[Rossiya-24]] state television on October 31, 2020, in a segment of nearly thirty minutes aired as part of Russian election coverage, in which he denied any contact with Russian security services and described himself as a "family man." His appearance on state television is itself treated by analysts as significant given that Russian state media access implies at minimum tolerance from Russian authorities.[^9] + +Nazzaro obtained Russian citizenship in approximately 2017, before founding The Base. Russian citizenship requires vetting by the [[Federal Security Service of Russia]] (FSB). Former Base members circulating testimonies in 2025 alleged that Nazzaro was observed texting in fluent Russian, inconsistent with the limited Russian proficiency one would expect of someone who had relocated recently. Analysts [[Colin Clarke]] of the [[Soufan Center]] and [[Steven Rai]] of the [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] (ISD) both assessed, without claiming definitive proof, that The Base's shift to Russian-owned platforms ([[VKontakte]] and [[Mail.ru]], the latter linked to [[Yuri Kovalchuk]], a Putin-aligned oligarch), combined with an apparent bot-driven follower campaign and Nazzaro's Russian citizenship and sanctuary, raises strong suspicion of state support.[^10] + +The [[Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center]] (MCAC), a [[Department of Homeland Security]]-affiliated state fusion center, published an advisory in April 2025 describing Nazzaro as having "for years garnered suspicions of being a Russian intelligence asset" and noting that FBI resource reallocation away from domestic terrorism had contributed to the group's resurgence.[^11] + +No U.S. government agency has publicly released an assessment definitively attributing The Base to Russian state direction. The structural parallel, an American operating a U.S.-targeted violent network from Russia, using Russian infrastructure, holding Russian citizenship, appearing on state television, and offering cash bounties for attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure that align with Russian military objectives, has been noted repeatedly by analysts but has not resulted in a public intelligence community judgment as of 2026. + +### 2025-2026 Operational Activities + +In approximately March 2025, The Base's Ukrainian cell, operating as [[White Phoenix]], began posting videos showing members spray-painting The Base symbol in [[Kyiv]], [[Odesa]], [[Mykolaiv]], and [[Kharkiv]]. In April 2025, Nazzaro posted offers via Telegram of cash payments to volunteers for attacks on Ukrainian power stations, military and police vehicles, government buildings, and officials. This was described by analysts as the first time The Base had openly aligned itself with Russian geopolitical objectives.[^12] + +On July 10, 2025, White Phoenix claimed responsibility for the targeted killing of [[SBU]] Colonel [[Ivan Voronych]] in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv. Voronych was shot multiple times with a silenced pistol and died at the scene; he was the highest-ranking SBU officer killed in a targeted assassination in Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The SBU subsequently announced it had killed two alleged Russian operatives, a man and a woman, who it said were directed by Russia's FSB to surveil Voronych and had been directed to a weapons cache. Whether White Phoenix's claim was credible attribution or a false-flag claim remains contested; counterterrorism sources told the Kyiv Independent they considered the claim credible, but the SBU did not confirm The Base's involvement.[^13] + +In February 2026, The Base's Ukrainian branch claimed responsibility for a car bombing in Odesa, stating the target was a border service officer assisting Russia. Law enforcement attribution was not confirmed. + +On November 25, 2025, the [[Spanish National Police]] General Commissariat of Information, supported by [[Europol]]'s [[European Counter Terrorism Centre]], arrested three suspected Base members in Madrid and Valencia during a three-day operation that included five house searches and seizures of firearms, bladed weapons, ammunition, military tactical gear, and neo-Nazi propaganda. Investigators stated the suspects were in contact with Nazzaro, who had urged "consolidation of international cells and selective attacks to destabilize Western democracies."[^14] + +In the Netherlands, three individuals (ages 16, 18, and 26 at time of arrest, from Westerhoven, Veenendaal, and Hengelo) were arrested August 20, 2024, on charges of incitement to terrorism and membership in The Base. The Dutch [[Openbaar Ministerie]] (OM) announced prosecution demands on March 3, 2025, seeking conditional prison sentences and community service. In Italy, two individuals were arrested in September 2024 on charges of Base membership, inciting violence, and extorting minors for [[child sexual abuse material]].[^15] + +### Congressional Record + +The House Subcommittee on Military Personnel (Committee on Armed Services) held a hearing titled "Alarming Incidents of White Supremacy in the Military -- How to Stop It?" on February 11, 2020 (116th Congress, CHRG-116hhrg42962). Subcommittee Chairwoman [[Jackie Speier]] (D-CA) cited The Base in her opening remarks, describing it as seeking to "use terrorism to start a race war and collapse the United States." Witnesses included [[Heidi Beirich]] of the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] and [[Mark Pitcavage]] of the [[Anti-Defamation League]]. Nazzaro was not named by name in the publicly available transcript; the hearing focused on military recruitment by white supremacist groups generally rather than on The Base's leadership's government background.[^16] + +### Property: Base Global LLC + +Nazzaro used a Delaware-registered limited liability company, [[Base Global LLC]], to purchase three 10-acre parcels of undeveloped land in [[Ferry County]], [[Washington state]] for $33,000 in December 2018. The parcels are located less than three miles north of Republic, WA, and two abut [[Washington Department of Natural Resources]] land. Deeds of sale listed a New Jersey post office as the company's address; separate tax affidavits provided the address of a New Jersey apartment belonging to a member of the Nazzaro family since 1988. No confirmed use of the land for Base training was documented; it was intended as a training camp site.[^17] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: The Guardian. "Revealed: the true identity of the leader of an American neo-Nazi terror group." January 23, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/23/revealed-the-true-identity-of-the-leader-of-an-american-neo-nazi-terror-group +[^2]: BBC News. "The Base: Inside a neo-Nazi terror group." January 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51281532; NATO CAGE Program, 61PL9 record. https://cage.report/NCAGE/61PL9; MuckRock FOIA multi-request, Jason Wilson, January 30, 2020. https://www.muckrock.com/foi/multirequest/omega-solutions-international-llcrinaldo-nazzaro-contracts-80373/; Wilson, Jason. "Neo-Nazi Terror Leader Said to Have Worked With U.S. Special Forces." *VICE News*, January 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/neo-nazi-terror-leader-said-to-have-worked-with-us-special-forces/ +[^3]: VICE News. "Neo-Nazi Terror Leader Said to Have Worked With U.S. Special Forces." 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/neo-nazi-terror-leader-said-to-have-worked-with-us-special-forces/; Truthout. "Leader of Neo-Nazi Group Previously Worked for Department of Homeland Security." https://truthout.org/articles/leader-of-neo-nazi-group-previously-worked-for-department-of-homeland-security/ +[^4]: Congressional Research Service, "The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Enterprise: Operational Overview and Oversight Challenges for Congress," R40602. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R40602.html +[^5]: Wilson, Jason. "Neo-Nazi Terror Leader Said to Have Worked With U.S. Special Forces." *VICE News*, January 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/neo-nazi-terror-leader-said-to-have-worked-with-us-special-forces/ +[^6]: Wilson, Jason. "He Founded an American Neo-Nazi Terror Group. But Will Rinaldo Nazzaro Ever Face US Justice?" *VICE News*, October 2022. https://www.vice.com/en/article/american-terror-rinaldo-nazzaro/ +[^7]: Foundation for Defense of Democracies, "Combat white supremacist violence using sanctions," May 30, 2022. https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2022/05/30/combat-white-supremacist-violence-sanctions/; Valensglobal, "America Drops the Ball on White Supremacist Terrorist Groups." https://valensglobal.com/america-drops-the-ball-on-white-supremacist-terrorist-groups/ +[^8]: Canada Gazette, Part 2, Vol. 155, No. 2, "Regulations Amending the Regulations Establishing a List of Entities," SOR/2021-8, February 3, 2021. https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2021/2021-02-03-x2/html/sor-dors8-eng.html; Hansard, House of Lords, "Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2021," July 15, 2021. https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-07-15/debates/69D5AEF9-060F-4315-B0E5-FE694C2EDF9B/TerrorismAct2000(ProscribedOrganisations)(Amendment)(No2)Order2021; Council of the EU, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2055, July 26, 2024. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/07/26/sanctions-against-terrorism-council-renews-the-eu-terrorist-list-and-designates-a-new-entity/ +[^9]: MEMRI, "White Supremacist Leader Rinaldo Nazzaro On Russian TV: Hitler Was The Result Of Past Circumstances." October 31, 2020. https://www.memri.org/tv/white-supremacist-leader-base-rinaldo-nazzaro-nationalism-solution-liberal-globalism; Wilson, Jason. "Neo-Nazi Terror Leader on Russian TV: 'I'm a Family Man.'" *VICE News*, 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/rinaldo-nazzaro-neo-nazi-terror-leader-on-russian-tv-im-a-family-man/ +[^10]: The Guardian, "Neo-Nazi Base cell members accuse leader of being a Kremlin spy," April 26, 2025. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-851559; The Soufan Center, "Russia's Links to Neo-Nazi Terrorist Groups Demonstrates its Hybrid Warfare Toolkit," May 8, 2025. https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2025-may-8/ +[^11]: Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center (MCAC), "US Neo-Nazi Group with Russia-Based Leader Calls for Targeted Ukraine Attacks," April 2025. https://mcac.maryland.gov/2025/04/us-neo-nazi-group-with-russia-based-leader-calls-for-targeted-ukraine-attacks/ +[^12]: Euromaidanpress, "US neo-Nazi leader based in Russia offers payment for attacks on Ukrainian officials," June 4, 2025. https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/04/06/us-neo-nazi-leader-based-in-russia-offers-payment-for-attacks-on-ukrainian-officials/ +[^13]: Kyiv Independent, "US-founded extremist group claims killing of SBU Colonel in Kyiv," July 2025. https://kyivindependent.com/us-founded-extremist-group-claims-killing-of-sbu-colonel-in-kyiv/; CBS News, "Ukrainian spy agency officer shot dead with silenced pistol in Kyiv." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukrainian-spy-agency-officer-killed-kyiv-reports-ivan-voronych/ +[^14]: OCCRP, "Spain, With Europol Support, Disrupts Far-Right Terrorist Group 'The Base,'" November 25, 2025. https://www.occrp.org/en/news/spain-with-europol-support-disrupts-far-right-terrorist-group-the-base +[^15]: Openbaar Ministerie (Netherlands), "OM eist voorwaardelijke gevangenisstraffen en werkstraffen voor aanzetten terrorisme en deelname aan The Base," March 3, 2025. https://www.om.nl/actueel/nieuws/2025/03/03/om-eist-voorwaardelijke-gevangenisstraffen-en-werkstraffen-voor-aanzetten-terrorisme-en-deelname-aan-the-base; Counter Extremism Project, "EU Arrests Members of Newly-Designated Terrorist Group The Base." https://www.counterextremism.com/blog/counterpoint-brief-eu-arrests-members-newly-designated-terrorist-group-base +[^16]: U.S. Congress, House Subcommittee on Military Personnel, "Alarming Incidents of White Supremacy in the Military -- How to Stop It?" February 11, 2020. CHRG-116hhrg42962. https://www.congress.gov/116/chrg/CHRG-116hhrg42962/CHRG-116hhrg42962.pdf +[^17]: The Spokesman-Review, "Report: Leader of neo-Nazi terrorist group owns land in Ferry County," January 23, 2020. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jan/23/report-leader-of-neo-nazi-terrorist-group-owns-lan/ +[^18]: Gambino, Lauren, and Stephanie Kirchgaessner. "Extremist neo-Nazi leader is a former Villanova student, N.J. resident, reports say." *Philadelphia Inquirer*, January 24, 2020. https://www.inquirer.com/news/the-base-neo-nazi-rinaldo-nazzaro-villanova-delbarton-white-supremacist-20200124.html; Counter Extremism Project, "Rinaldo Nazzaro." https://www.counterextremism.com/extremists/rinaldo-nazzaro +[^19]: Wilson, Jason. "Department of Homeland Security Confirms Neo-Nazi Leader Used to Work For It." *VICE News*, February 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/department-of-homeland-security-confirms-neo-nazi-leader-used-to-work-for-it/ +[^20]: Congressional Research Service, "The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Enterprise: Operational Overview and Oversight Challenges for Congress," R40602. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R40602.html diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Rohan Rane.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Rohan Rane.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0aa4d5e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Rohan Rane.md @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - CVLT + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - NetworkFounder + - France + - India + - FederalCase + - OrderOfNineAngles +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Rohan Rane is an Indian national who as a 23-year-old business school student in Antibes, France founded CVLT in 2019, the Discord-based child exploitation network that pioneered the sextortion-to-self-harm coercion model subsequently replicated by 764." +born: 1996 +location: "Antibes, France" +--- + +[[Rohan Rane]] (full legal name Rohan Sandeep Rane, born 1996) is an Indian national who, while attending a top business school in [[Antibes, France]], founded [[CVLT]] in 2019 at approximately 23 years of age. CVLT was the Discord-based child exploitation network that developed the sextortion-to-self-harm coercion model subsequently transmitted to the [[764 Network|764]] network through a single encounter in a [[Minecraft]] server between a CVLT member and 764 founder [[Bradley Chance Cadenhead]]. Rane was arrested in France on April 6, 2021, and in February 2025 was charged by U.S. prosecutors in [[United States v. Rane et al. (2-25-cr-00040)|United States v. Rane et al., 2:25-cr-00040]] (C.D. Cal.), with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. As of May 2026 he remains in French custody pending extradition to the United States.[^1] + +### CVLT and Its Methods + +Rane founded CVLT in 2019 as a community initially numbering a few hundred members, centered on [[Discord]]. CVLT espoused neo-Nazism, nihilism, and pedophilia as its core principles. Rane recruited underage girls from around the world into the community through social engineering, obtained compromising sexual photographs and videos from them, and used that material as leverage to compel victims into escalating acts of self-harm up to and including suicidal behavior. The acts were recorded on webcam and broadcast live within the CVLT server. DOJ press releases document specific coercion acts: compelling victims to cut themselves, drink their own urine, punch themselves, use racial slurs against themselves, carve CVLT members' names into their skin with razor blades, and at the terminal extreme, kill themselves on a live video stream.[^2] + +CVLT operated from at least 2019 to 2022. The network targeted particularly vulnerable girls, including those with mental health histories or prior abuse, and exposed them first to extremist and violent content before beginning direct coercion. The core mechanism CVLT established, which 764 replicated, was the use of initially consensual intimate imagery as a blackmail lever to compel victims into acts they would not otherwise perform, with coercion escalating until victims escaped or were pushed to self-harm or death.[^2] + +### French Investigation and Arrest + +An [[FBI]] agent investigating a 15-year-old American girl who had attempted suicide under coercion in spring 2020 passed findings to French authorities. The [[OCRVP]] (Office Central pour la Répression des Violences aux Personnes, a French national police unit) initiated a judicial investigation on October 6, 2020. Rane was arrested on April 6, 2021. In France he was charged with "acts of torture and barbarity," "corruption of minors in an organized gang," and "extortion in an organized gang," and has been held in [[French custody]] since 2022, reportedly in solitary confinement while awaiting trial.[^3] + +### United States Federal Case + +A federal grand jury in the [[Central District of California]] returned an indictment on January 17, 2025 in United States v. Rane et al., 2:25-cr-00040, charging Rane alongside [[Kaleb Merritt]], [[Clint Borge]], and [[Collin Walker]] with one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]]. The indictment was unsealed approximately February 4-5, 2025. The statute requires proof of underlying felony violations against children, a pattern of three or more separate incidents, more than one victim, and commission of the offenses in concert with three or more other persons. The four named defendants and two unnamed minor co-conspirators (one also described as a victim) together constituted the enterprise.[^4] + +The enterprise charged covered conduct from at least 2019 to 2022. Rane, Walker, and Merritt were charged as leaders and administrators who hosted and ran CVLT servers and controlled membership. The indictment alleged at least 16 minor victims worldwide, with at least two in Southern California.[^4] + +As of May 2026, Rane has not entered a U.S. plea. His extradition from France is pending. The sentence exposure upon conviction is a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life imprisonment.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Four Members of Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Minors Charged with Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." February 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-members-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-minors-charged-producing-child-sexual-abuse; United States v. Rane et al., 2:25-cr-00040 (C.D. Cal.), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69613728/united-states-v-rane/ +[^2]: Rolling Stone. "Violent Online Group CVLT Coerced Kids to Self-Harm, DOJ Says." February 2025. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/violent-online-group-cvlt-indicted-1235258786/; HSI press release, February 2025. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-los-angeles-cherry-hill-and-honolulu-special-agents-arrest-members-online-neo +[^3]: ARC Research. "CVLT Historical Threat Assessment of the Precursor to 764." https://www.accresearch.org/shortanalysis/svjdmt1twn9ccz0c4uxnbqrauywwcn; CBS News. "International investigation targets online group leaders accused of child sex abuse and torture." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/online-group-leaders-cvlt-the-com-arrests-investigation/ +[^4]: HSI press release, February 2025. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-los-angeles-cherry-hill-and-honolulu-special-agents-arrest-members-online-neo; DOJ OPA press release, February 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-members-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-minors-charged-producing-child-sexual-abuse diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Skyler Philippi.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Skyler Philippi.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cd84add9 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Skyler Philippi.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NationalAlliance + - FederalCase + - Tennessee + - USA + - InfrastructureSabotage + - WeaponOfMassDestruction +summary: "Skyler Philippi is a Columbia, Tennessee man with prior Atomwaffen Division and National Alliance affiliations who pleaded guilty September 9, 2025, to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction by deploying a drone loaded with C-4 against a Nashville-area electrical substation." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 2001 +location: "Columbia, Tennessee" +--- + +[[Skyler Philippi]] (born approximately 2001, [[Columbia, Tennessee]]) pleaded guilty on September 9, 2025, to two counts in the [[Middle District of Tennessee]]: attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction under 18 U.S.C. § 2332a, and attempting to destroy an energy facility. His plot involved attaching what he believed to be C-4 plastic explosive to a drone and flying it into a Nashville-area electrical substation. FBI undercover employees and confidential human sources disrupted the plot during its November 2024 operational phase, arresting Philippi on-site as he prepared to attach the explosive device to the drone. Sentencing was scheduled for January 8, 2026, with a maximum penalty of life in prison.[^1] + +### Prior Extremist Affiliations + +In August 2024, Philippi told an undercover employee that he had written a "manifesto" outlining his desire to attack "high tax cities or industrial areas" and disclosed prior affiliation with [[Atomwaffen Division]] and the [[National Alliance]]. The National Alliance, founded by [[William Luther Pierce]] and the original publisher of *[[The Turner Diaries]]*, had undergone multiple leadership transitions after Pierce's 2002 death; its surviving membership in the early 2020s overlapped significantly with Terrorgram-adjacent online communities. Philippi's path from AWD-adjacent ideology to Terrorgram-era infrastructure targeting mirrored that of other defendants in the [[Terrorgram Collective]] network, though his case was charged separately, not within the [[United States v. Humber]] prosecution. + +### Planning and Operational Conduct + +In June 2024, Philippi communicated to a confidential human source (CHS) that he wanted to commit a mass shooting at a [[YMCA]] facility near Columbia, Tennessee. He subsequently shifted his focus to infrastructure attack, researching previous attacks on electrical substations and concluding that firearms-only attacks were insufficient. He planned instead to use a drone with explosives capable of causing damage sufficient to knock out power to thousands of homes and critical facilities including hospitals. + +Philippi researched self-built drone construction to reduce detection risk and identified TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide) and C-4 as preferred explosive materials. In November 2024, in a staged operation, Philippi and undercover FBI employees drove to his intended Nashville launch site; he was arrested as he prepared to attach a device he believed to contain 3 pounds of C-4 explosive to the drone. + +The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Josh Kurtzman]] of the Middle District of Tennessee and Trial Attorneys [[Justin Sher]] and [[James Donnelly]] of the [[National Security Division]]'s Counterterrorism Section.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Use a Weapon of Mass Destruction and Attempting to Destroy an Energy Facility in Nashville." September 9, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-attempting-use-weapon-mass-destruction-and-attempting-destroy-energy; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-MDTN. "Columbia Man Pleads Guilty." September 9, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdtn/pr/columbia-man-pleads-guilty-attempting-use-weapon-mass-destruction-and-destroy-energy +[^2]: CNN. "Skyler Philippi pleads guilty to charges that he meant to blow up a Nashville power site with a bomb-laden drone." September 9, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/09/us/nashville-power-substation-bomb-plot-plea; ABC News. "Man pleads guilty to neo-Nazi-inspired plot to bomb Nashville energy facility: DOJ." September 9, 2025. https://abcnews.com/US/man-pleads-guilty-neo-nazi-inspired-plot-bomb/story?id=125401895 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Vasillios George Pistolis.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Vasillios George Pistolis.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ffe2fecd --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Vasillios George Pistolis.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Military + - Charlottesville + - USA + - CourtMartial +born: 1996 +location: "Camp Lejeune, North Carolina" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Vasillios George Pistolis was a U.S. Marine Lance Corporal and Atomwaffen Division member who participated in the 2017 Charlottesville rally, was found guilty at a summary court-martial in June 2018, and was administratively separated from the Marine Corps in July 2018." +--- + +Vasillios George Pistolis was a Lance Corporal in the [[United States Marine Corps]], assigned to [[Combat Logistics Battalion 8]], Combat Logistics Regiment 2, [[2nd Marine Logistics Group]], based at [[Camp Lejeune]], North Carolina, and a documented member of [[Atomwaffen Division]]. He participated in the August 12, 2017 [[Unite the Right rally]] in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]], where he was photographed striking a protester with a wooden flagpole, and later bragged in online communications about assaulting another protester. [[ProPublica]] identified him as an AWD member in May 2018, triggering a Marine Corps investigation that resulted in a summary court-martial and administrative separation.[^1] + +### Military Assignment and AWD Membership + +Pistolis served in Combat Logistics Battalion 8, a rear-area logistics unit at Camp Lejeune. His AWD membership was documented through his activity on AWD-affiliated online platforms, where he identified himself as a member and expressed support for the organization's accelerationist ideology. AWD's presence at Charlottesville was notable as an early example of the organization's members participating in public far-right events.[^2] + +### Charlottesville and the ProPublica Investigation + +Pistolis marched in the [[2017 Unite the Right Rally]] alongside other neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups. A news photographer captured him striking a protester with a wooden flagpole during the violence that accompanied the rally. He reportedly bragged in online communications about assaulting [[Emily F. Gorcenski]], an activist, during the same event. ProPublica identified Pistolis in May 2018 as part of a broader investigation into AWD's presence in the military, and published its findings along with the photographic evidence.[^1] + +### Court-Martial and Separation + +Following ProPublica's publication, Marine Corps leadership opened a formal proceeding. On June 19, 2018, Pistolis was found guilty at a summary court-martial on two charges under the [[Uniform Code of Military Justice]]: failure to obey an order or regulation, and making a false official statement. These charges likely related to his denial of extremist affiliations and his attendance at the rally in violation of [[DoD]] policy. The summary court-martial imposed: 28 days' confinement, reduction in rank from Lance Corporal (E-3) to Private (E-1), and forfeiture of two-thirds of one month's pay. + +Pistolis was released from confinement and administratively separated from the Marine Corps on July 11, 2018. Marine Corps spokesman Major Brian Block confirmed the separation, stating "He is not a Marine anymore," but declined to release the characterization of discharge. No civilian criminal charges were filed.[^3] + +### Enforcement Gaps + +The case illustrates a recurring pattern in military extremism enforcement: the summary court-martial addressed violations of orders and false statements rather than the underlying extremist affiliation, and the administrative separation left no public criminal record. The [[PBS Frontline]] 2018 investigation found that the Marine Corps had received an "alarming tip" about Pistolis months earlier but the initial response was uncertain.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ProPublica. "U.S. Marine to Be Imprisoned Over Involvement With Hate Groups." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/vasilios-pistolis-imprisoned-marine-hate-groups + +[^2]: ProPublica / PBS Frontline. "Ranks of Notorious Hate Group Include Active-Duty Military." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-hate-group-active-duty-military + +[^3]: Marine Corps Times. "Neo-Nazi Marine Found Guilty at Summary Court-Martial." June 19, 2018. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/06/19/neo-nazi-marine-found-guilty-at-summary-court-martial/; Military.com. "Lance Corporal with Alleged Neo-Nazi Ties Is Now a Former Marine." August 2, 2018. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/08/02/lance-corporal-alleged-neo-nazi-ties-now-former-marine.html + +[^4]: PBS Frontline. "An Alarming Tip About a Neo-Nazi Marine, Then An Uncertain Response." 2018. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/an-alarming-tip-about-a-neo-nazi-marine-then-an-uncertain-response/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Andrew Takhistov.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Andrew Takhistov.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..226d804c --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Andrew Takhistov.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - FederalCase + - NewJersey + - USA + - InfrastructureSabotage +summary: "Andrew Takhistov is an East Brunswick, New Jersey Terrorgram Collective member arrested July 10, 2024, charged with soliciting destruction of two PSE&G electrical substations in New Jersey after conducting reconnaissance with an undercover FBI employee and receiving tactical advice from a Russian contact." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +born: 2005 +location: "East Brunswick, New Jersey" +--- + +[[Andrew Takhistov]] (born approximately 2005-2006, [[East Brunswick, New Jersey]]) was charged in the [[District of New Jersey]] in July 2024 with one count of soliciting another individual to engage in criminal conduct involving the destruction of [[Public Service Enterprise Group]] (PSE&G) electrical substations. He was 18 years old at arrest and had been communicating with undercover FBI employees for several months about infrastructure sabotage and had stated an intent to travel to Ukraine to join the [[Russian Volunteer Corps]].[^1] + +### Operational Planning and Evidence + +In May 2024, Takhistov informed an undercover FBI employee that he was planning to travel to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, which he described as openly National Socialist and specialized in assassinations, attacks on power grids, and infrastructure sabotage. The combination of white nationalist ideology and interest in a pro-Russian paramilitary formation reflected a documented crossover between the far-right accelerationist Telegram ecosystem and Russian irregular networks. + +On two occasions in June and July 2024, Takhistov and the undercover employee drove to two different electrical substations in [[North Brunswick, New Jersey|North Brunswick]] and [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]], where Takhistov provided instruction on how to conduct attacks on electrical substations. On July 5, 2024, he directed the undercover employee to photograph the substations so that he could transmit the images to what he described as a "Russian friend" for additional tactical advice on the most effective sabotage methods. + +Takhistov had a documented history of posting in [[Terrorgram Collective]] channels, including references to Adolf Hitler, calls for violence against Black and Jewish individuals, and praise for mass shooters. He also stated he had been involved in the production of Terrorgram propaganda. Prosecutors noted he was a "fan" of at least one of the Terrorgram Collective's terrorism how-to guides. + +### Charges and Legal Status + +Takhistov was arrested on July 10, 2024, and made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge [[Leda Dunn Wettre]] in Newark federal court, where he was detained. He was charged with one count of soliciting destruction of an energy facility under 18 U.S.C. § 1366(b), which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $125,000 fine. + +The charge was filed as a complaint by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey. Plea status was unresolved as of May 2026.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-NJ. "Middlesex County Man Charged with Soliciting Destruction of Energy Facilities." July 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/middlesex-county-man-charged-soliciting-destruction-energy-facilities; East Brunswick Patch. "East Brunswick Man Plotted To Blow Up PSE&G Facilities: Feds." July 2024. https://patch.com/new-jersey/eastbrunswick/east-brunswick-man-plotted-blow-pse-g-facilities-feds +[^2]: CBS New York. "18-year-old N.J. man accused in plot to sabotage PSE&G substations." July 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/plot-to-destroy-pse-g-power-plant-new-jersey/; DOJ OPA. "New Jersey Man Charged with Soliciting Destruction of Energy Facilities." https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/new-jersey-man-charged-soliciting-destruction-energy-facilities diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Brenton Tarrant.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Brenton Tarrant.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e0b95e92 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Brenton Tarrant.md @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SaintsCulture + - GreatReplacementTheory + - NewZealand + - Australia + - MassShooter +born: 1990-09-09 +location: "Grafton, New South Wales, Australia" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Brenton Tarrant is an Australian who killed 51 in the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, livestreaming the attack behind an accelerationist manifesto that became the founding saint-template for Terrorgram Collective and subsequent attackers worldwide." +--- + +[[Brenton Tarrant]] (born September 9, 1990, [[Grafton, New South Wales, Australia]]) attacked the [[Al Noor Mosque]] and [[Linwood Islamic Centre]] in [[Christchurch, New Zealand]] on March 15, 2019, killing 51 people and wounding 40. He live-streamed the Al Noor attack on Facebook and distributed a 74-page manifesto titled "The Great Replacement" before and during the attack. He pleaded guilty to all 51 murder charges and 40 attempted murder charges in March 2020 and was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole - the first such sentence in New Zealand's history. He is held at Paremoremo maximum security prison. His attack became the founding reference point for the [[Terrorgram Collective]] and the accelerationist "saint" tradition it propagated, with subsequent attackers across multiple countries explicitly citing his attack as inspiration.[^1] + +### The Christchurch Attacks + +Tarrant had arrived in New Zealand from Australia and spent approximately two years in Christchurch before the attack. He obtained a firearms license and legally acquired the weapons he used. On March 15, 2019, he drove to Al Noor Mosque during Friday prayers and opened fire on the worshippers, killing 50 people. He then drove to Linwood Islamic Centre and killed one additional person. He was apprehended by armed police in his vehicle approximately 21 minutes after the first shots. + +The Al Noor attack was live-streamed via a helmet-mounted camera to Facebook, where it remained available for approximately 17 minutes before removal. The footage and his manifesto were simultaneously distributed through 8chan, Reddit, and other platforms. New Zealand immediately moved to criminalize possession of the manifesto and footage. + +The 51 victims ranged in age from 3 to 77. They included New Zealand citizens and permanent residents who had emigrated from dozens of countries.[^2] + +### Manifesto and Ideology + +"The Great Replacement" invoked the French conspiracy theory promoted by Renaud Camus that held that a coordinated elite project was "replacing" white European populations with non-white immigrants. Tarrant's version mapped this theory onto an accelerationist strategic framework drawn from [[Siege Culture]] and the logic of [[James Mason]]'s writings: that a spectacular act of violence would provoke governments to overreact, alienate moderates from mainstream politics, and accelerate the conditions for racial civil war. + +The manifesto explicitly cited Dylann Roof's 2015 Charleston church massacre as an influence and framed Roof as an exemplary figure. It anticipated its own downstream influence, positioning the Christchurch attack as an event to be emulated. This self-aware positioning within a succession of "saints" was a deliberate rhetorical strategy. + +Tarrant also addressed a range of tactical arguments about target selection, timing, and the anticipated government response to his attack - providing a template that later attackers including [[Payton Gendron]] (Buffalo, 2022), [[Juraj Krajčík]] (Bratislava, 2022), and [[Cain Clark]] (San Diego, 2026) explicitly cited or whose format they imitated.[^3] + +### Sentencing + +Tarrant pleaded guilty on March 26, 2020, to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder, and one count of committing a terrorist act - the first time anyone in New Zealand had been convicted of a terrorism offense. New Zealand had no provision for life without parole before his sentencing; the Sentencing Act was amended to allow it, and Judge Cameron Mander imposed the sentence on August 27, 2020, explicitly declining to set any minimum non-parole period.[^1] + +### Influence on the Accelerationist Ecosystem + +[[Terrorgram Collective]] was founded in the summer of 2019 explicitly in response to Christchurch. Co-founders [[Pavol Beňadik]] and [[Matthew Althorpe]] framed Tarrant's attack as the model for what accelerationist violence could accomplish. Beňadik began recruiting what would become his Slovak radicalization network immediately after Christchurch, identifying Tarrant as the foundational saint whose example his channels were designed to replicate. + +Tarrant's influence flows through the documented inspiration chains: Gendron cited Tarrant; Krajčík cited Gendron; Casap cited Krajčík. The [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting|San Diego attack]] manifesto was titled "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant," naming the lineage explicitly. The Christchurch attack is the single most cited precedent across the post-2019 neo-Nazi accelerationist attack record.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: New Zealand Ministry of Justice. Crown Law Terrorism Case Summary. August 2020; Radio New Zealand. "Christchurch mosque attacks: Life without parole for Brenton Tarrant." August 27, 2020. +[^2]: Royal Commission of Inquiry. "Ko tō tātou kāinga tēnei / Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019." New Zealand Government, 2020. +[^3]: ICCT. "Christchurch, Attacks, and the Role of Online Propaganda." https://icct.nl/publication/christchurch-attacks-and-the-role-of-online-propaganda/ +[^4]: RSIS. "Bratislava Shooting: The Making of Terrorgram's First Saint." https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/rsis/bratislava-shooting-the-making-of-terrorgrams-first-saint/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Caleb Vazquez.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Caleb Vazquez.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fcdebf63 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Caleb Vazquez.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - SiegeCulture + - Accelerationism + - AtomwaffenDivision + - Terrorgram + - NeoNazi + - AntiMuslim + - Incel + - Shooter + - ChulaVista + - California +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Caleb Liam Vazquez was a Chula Vista, California teenager who co-perpetrated the May 2026 attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego, had been flagged to police for neo-Nazi social media activity the prior year, and died at the scene." +born: 2007 +location: "Chula Vista, California" +--- + +[[Caleb Vazquez|Caleb Liam Vazquez]] was an 18-year-old resident of [[Chula Vista, California]] who co-perpetrated the [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting|attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego]] on May 18, 2026 alongside [[Cain Clark|Cain Lee Clark]]. Three people were killed in the attack. Vazquez died in the perpetrators' vehicle when Clark shot him twice in the head at his own request. Vazquez co-authored a 75-page manifesto titled "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" drawing from [[Atomwaffen Division]], [[Terrorgram Collective|Terrorgram]], [[The Base]], and [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]*. In 2025, the Chula Vista Police Department had contacted Vazquez after receiving a tip about his extremist views and found his social media "littered with neo-Nazi rhetoric," but determined the situation did not meet the threshold for arrest.[^1] + +### Background and Radicalization + +Vazquez described himself in his manifesto section as having been active in incel forums since 2022, making his documented online radicalization history traceable to at least four years before the attack. By the time of the shooting he had developed an explicitly Nazi worldview - his manifesto section praised Adolf Hitler as "the greatest man to ever walk this Earth" and expressed the antisemitism and [[Great Replacement Theory]] foundational to the manifesto as a whole. + +In 2025, an acquaintance contacted the Chula Vista Police Department to report concerns about Vazquez's interest in "extremist ideology and mass-casualty attacks." Officers investigated and reviewed his social media, which they described as "littered with neo-Nazi rhetoric." Police determined the information they had did not satisfy the legal standard for arrest and no charges were filed. The incident represents a documented law enforcement contact that did not result in intervention, a pattern that has recurred in numerous mass violence cases.[^1] + +Vazquez met [[Cain Clark]] online before the two discovered they lived in proximity in the [[San Diego]] area and began meeting in person. + +### Manifesto Content + +Vazquez's section of "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" opened with an image of a [[Sonnenrad]] with the Atomwaffen Division logo at its center. His writing praised Hitler and drew on [[Great Replacement Theory]], antisemitism, and his incel background. The manifesto stated explicitly that the attack was carried out for Atomwaffen Division, [[Terrorgram Collective|Terrorgram]], and The Base. Like Clark's section, it cited *Siege* and *The Turner Diaries* as foundational texts. + +Physical evidence recovered from the attack scene and the perpetrators' vehicle included a Sonnenrad patch, an Atomwaffen Division logo on tactical equipment, an SS symbol on a fuel container, and hate speech on one of the weapons - all consistent with the visual and aesthetic language produced by Atomwaffen Division and subsequently distributed through Terrorgram channels.[^2][^3] + +### The Attack and Death + +Vazquez participated in the May 18, 2026 attack on the ICSD alongside Clark, shooting three victims outside the mosque before security guard [[Amin Abdullah]]'s armed response delayed them and allowed approximately 150 school children to shelter safely. The two fled in a white BMW. According to investigators, Vazquez encouraged Clark to shoot him during their flight; Clark shot Vazquez twice in the head, then killed himself. Both were found in the vehicle approximately three-tenths of a mile from the mosque. No criminal prosecution is possible given both perpetrators' deaths. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: 10News. "Chula Vista police had prior contact with one suspect from Monday's shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego." May 2026. https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/south-bay-news/chula-vista-police-had-prior-contact-with-one-suspect-from-mondays-shooting-at-islamic-center-of-san-diego +[^2]: ADL. "San Diego Mosque Shooters' Apparent Manifestos Reveal Anti-Muslim Extremism." May 2026. https://www.adl.org/resources/article/san-diego-mosque-shooters-apparent-manifestos-reveal-anti-muslim-extremism +[^3]: NBC 7 San Diego. "Weapons, manifesto, San Diego mosque shooting." May 2026. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/weapons-manifesto-san-diego-mosque-shooting/4026006/ \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Collin Walker.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Collin Walker.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..eaac9665 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Collin Walker.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - CVLT + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - ChildExploitationEnterprise + - NewJersey + - OrderOfNineAngles + - FederalCase +born: 2001 +location: "Bridgeton, New Jersey" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Collin John Thomas Walker, alias 'Wrath' and 'O9A.WRATH', was a CVLT co-leader from Bridgeton, New Jersey who pleaded guilty in October 2025 to engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Hernan D. Vera in the Central District of California." +--- + +[[Collin Walker]] (full name Collin John Thomas Walker, aliases "Wrath" and "O9A.WRATH") is a co-leader of [[CVLT]] and a member of the [[764 Network|764]] network ecosystem, based in [[Bridgeton, New Jersey]]. He was 23 at the time of his federal indictment. His O9A-styled alias reflects CVLT's integration of [[Order of Nine Angles|O9A]] neo-Nazi occultist ideology, which several CVLT leaders adopted as an ideological identity alongside neo-Nazism, nihilism, and pedophilia as the enterprise's core principles.[^1] + +### Federal Case (United States v. Rane, 2:25-cr-00040) + +The grand jury returned the indictment on January 17, 2025 in the [[Central District of California]]. When the indictment was unsealed in early February 2025, Walker was physically arrested in New Jersey by [[Homeland Security Investigations]] Cherry Hill. He appeared in federal court, was assigned counsel, and was remanded to U.S. Marshals custody for transport to Los Angeles.[^2] + +Walker faced one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]]. He was identified as one of three co-leaders alongside [[Rohan Rane]] and [[Kaleb Merritt]] who hosted and ran CVLT servers and controlled membership and access. [[Clint Borge]] was charged as a member; the distinction reflects different levels of administrative control within the enterprise as DOJ characterized it.[^2] + +Walker pleaded guilty in October 2025. Judge [[Hernan D. Vera]] of the Central District of California scheduled sentencing for January 29, 2026. As of May 2026, no DOJ press release announcing Walker's actual sentence had been published, suggesting the hearing may have been continued or the announcement was delayed. He faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life imprisonment.[^3] + +### Role in CVLT + +Walker joined CVLT around 2020 and rose to a leadership role. He hosted servers, controlled membership, and directed and instructed victims during the creation of extortion videos and CSAM. Walker was one of three defendants (alongside Rane and Merritt) described by DOJ as enterprise leaders who controlled access and directed operations from the server level.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Medium/chokingonsignal. "Com, Extortion Groups, and the Order of Nine Angles." https://chokingonsignal.medium.com/com-extortion-groups-and-the-order-of-nine-angles-9fe1f8419526 +[^2]: DOJ OPA. "Four Members of Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Minors Charged with Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." February 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-members-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-minors-charged-producing-child-sexual-abuse; HSI press release. February 2025. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-los-angeles-cherry-hill-and-honolulu-special-agents-arrest-members-online-neo +[^3]: DOJ OPA. "Man Pleads Guilty to Participating in Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Children into Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." March 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-participating-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-children-producing-child; GoldRushCam/Sierra Sun-Times. "Suspect Pleads Guilty to Engaging in Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Children into Making Child Sexual Abuse Material." 2025. https://goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/index.php/news/local-news/76713-suspect-pleads-guilty-to-engaging-in-online-neo-nazi-group-that-exploited-children-into-making-child-sexual-abuse-material diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/David Cole Tarkington.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/David Cole Tarkington.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..43d32967 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/David Cole Tarkington.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Military + - IronMarch + - USA + - NavyInvestigation +born: 1997 +location: "Naval Air Station Lemoore, California" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "David Cole Tarkington was a U.S. Navy aviation machinist mate identified via the Iron March data leak as a prolific Atomwaffen Division online recruiter, and was administratively separated from the Navy in April 2020 following an NCIS investigation." +--- + +David Cole Tarkington was an [[U.S. Navy]] aviation machinist's mate apprentice serving with [[Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-41]] (the "Black Aces") at [[Naval Air Station Lemoore]], California, who was identified in March 2020 as a prolific [[Atomwaffen Division]] online recruiter through analysis of the leaked [[Iron March]] forum data. He had operated under the username "The Yank" on Iron March from 2013 to late 2016, attempting to recruit at least twelve forum members into AWD. Following publication of the findings by [[Gizmodo]] and an investigation by [[Naval Criminal Investigative Service]] (NCIS), Tarkington was administratively separated from the Navy in April 2020. No criminal charges were filed.[^1] + +### Iron March Activity + +The Iron March forum was a neo-fascist platform that operated from 2011 to 2017 and served as the founding environment for Atomwaffen Division and several other neo-Nazi organizations. An anonymous source using the account "antifa-data" uploaded the forum's complete user data to the [[Internet Archive]] on November 6, 2019, enabling researchers to identify hundreds of users by cross-referencing account details with publicly accessible information. + +Tarkington's Iron March account, "The Yank," is documented as active from approximately September 2013, when he was 15 or 16 years old, through December 2016. During that period he evolved from a new forum participant into what Gizmodo described as one of AWD's most prolific online recruiters, attempting to bring at least twelve Iron March members into the organization. His AWD recruitment activity significantly predated his Navy enlistment, which occurred in July 2019.[^2] + +### Military Service + +Tarkington enlisted in the Navy in July 2019, approximately three years after his active Iron March period ended. He was assigned to VFA-41, a carrier-based strike fighter squadron that flies F/A-18F Super Hornets. His role as an aviation machinist's mate involved maintenance of aircraft engines, propellers, and associated systems. He was stationed at Lemoore at the time of his identification.[^1] + +### NCIS Investigation and Separation + +Gizmodo published its investigation identifying Tarkington on March 12, 2020. The Navy launched an NCIS investigation following the publication and, according to Commander Ron Flanders, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces, Tarkington was "administratively separated" following the investigation. Flanders confirmed the separation was "administrative in nature" but declined to provide details about its characterization, citing privacy act restrictions. The separation occurred in April 2020, approximately one month after publication.[^3] + +The administrative separation, rather than a court-martial or criminal referral, meant that Tarkington faced no criminal conviction. The legal basis for the separation is not specified in available public records; administrative separation under the [[Uniform Code of Military Justice]] framework can be used for a range of conduct that falls short of criminal charges but renders a service member unsuitable for continued service. + +### Iron March Data and Broader Military Exposure + +Tarkington's case illustrates AWD's use of online recruitment infrastructure that predated members' military service by years. His recruitment of twelve individuals through Iron March, if successful, would represent a significant pipeline. The Iron March data leak that exposed him also identified dozens of other military-affiliated neo-Nazi sympathizers across multiple branches, contributing to the [[House Armed Services Committee]]'s 2021 investigation into extremism in the ranks.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Gizmodo. "Leak Exposes U.S. Navy Sailor as Once-Prolific Recruiter for Neo-Nazi Group." March 12, 2020. https://gizmodo.com/leak-exposes-u-s-navy-sailor-as-once-prolific-recruite-1841149776 + +[^2]: Scripps News / E.W. Scripps. "We Found More Active Duty Military In Leaked Neo-Nazi Forum." 2020. https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/military/we-found-more-active-duty-military-in-leaked-neo-nazi-forum + +[^3]: Newsweek. "Navy Kicks Out Alleged Recruiter for Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Division After Investigation." April 2020. https://www.newsweek.com/navy-kicks-out-alleged-recruiter-neo-nazi-group-atomwaffen-division-after-investigation-1498704; Task & Purpose. "David Cole Tarkington Was Administratively Separated Following a Navy Investigation." 2020. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-neo-nazi-sailor-separated/ + +[^4]: Military Times. "Desire to Join Military Large Focus of Leaked Chats in Infamous Neo-Nazi Forum." November 2019. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/11/07/desire-to-join-military-large-focus-of-leaked-chats-in-infamous-neo-nazi-forum/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Guilherme Von Neutegem.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Guilherme Von Neutegem.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1a47d9c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Guilherme Von Neutegem.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - O9A + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Canada + - FederalCase + - TerroristConviction + - MentalHealthDefense +born: 1994 +location: "Rexdale, Ontario, Canada" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Guilherme Von Neutegem was a Toronto-area Order of Nine Angles adherent who in 2020 fatally stabbed mosque caretaker Mohamed-Aslim Zafis in Rexdale, Ontario and was found not criminally responsible by reason of schizophrenia in 2023." +--- + +[[Guilherme Von Neutegem]] fatally stabbed [[Mohamed-Aslim Zafis]] (58) outside the [[International Muslim Organization]] mosque in [[Rexdale]], [[Ontario]] on September 12, 2020. Zafis was a caretaker at the mosque who was sitting outside when Von Neutegem approached and attacked him. Investigators subsequently documented that Von Neutegem was an adherent of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A), finding an altar featuring an O9A symbol in his home, O9A-related social media posts, and a YouTube video in which he discussed O9A philosophy. He was charged with first-degree murder on September 18, 2020. In March 2023 an Ontario court found him [[Not Criminally Responsible]] (NCR) due to schizophrenia, and his case was referred to the [[Ontario Review Board]].[^1] + +### The Attack + +Von Neutegem approached Zafis outside the International Muslim Organization mosque in the Rexdale neighborhood of northwestern Toronto on the evening of September 12, 2020 and stabbed him. Zafis died of his injuries. Von Neutegem was apprehended in connection with the killing and formally charged on September 18, 2020 with first-degree murder and carrying a concealed weapon. + +The attack occurred amid the early COVID-19 period, when mosque activity was restricted and Zafis was sitting outside. Toronto Police Service investigated the killing as a hate crime given the target location and the perpetrator's documented beliefs.[^2] + +### O9A Affiliation + +Post-arrest investigation revealed substantial evidence of O9A ideology in Von Neutegem's environment. His residence contained an altar bearing an [[O9A]] symbol. His social media accounts contained O9A-related content. A YouTube video recovered by investigators showed him discussing O9A philosophy. O9A, known formally as the Order of Nine Angles, is a British-origin occult neo-Nazi organization that frames ritual violence against outgroup members as a path toward personal "sinister" development, providing an ideological framework in which a lone attack on a mosque caretaker fits within the network's prescriptive model.[^3] + +The Zafis killing was one of several O9A-linked attacks documented in North America and Europe in the 2019-2021 period, alongside the AWD-O9A overlap cases and Feuerkrieg Division prosecutions. O9A's particular influence on accelerationist lone-actor violence lies in its combination of esoteric philosophy with explicit operational encouragement for what the organization calls "insight roles," activities including criminal violence intended to test and harden the practitioner. + +### NCR Finding and Ontario Review Board + +Von Neutegem's trial proceeded to a finding on criminal responsibility rather than guilt. In March 2023 the Ontario court entered a finding of Not Criminally Responsible by reason of mental disorder (schizophrenia), the Canadian equivalent of a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict. Under Canadian law an NCR finding does not result in an acquittal but in a referral to a provincial review board that manages ongoing detention and treatment. His case was referred to the Ontario Review Board, which has authority to order continued detention in a psychiatric facility, conditional discharge, or absolute discharge based on ongoing assessments of risk to public safety. + +The NCR finding means Von Neutegem was not convicted of murder and faces no penal sentence, but remains subject to Ontario Review Board supervision for an indefinite period.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Toronto Star. "Toronto man charged with first-degree murder after caretaker fatally stabbed outside northwest Toronto mosque." September 18, 2020; CBC News. "Man found not criminally responsible in 2020 stabbing death at Toronto mosque." March 2023. +[^2]: Toronto Police Service. Homicide Investigation, Case 20-427982. September 2020. +[^3]: VICE News. "Inside the 'Sinister' Far-Right Sect Linked to a Murder at a Toronto Mosque." 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/order-of-nine-angles-toronto-mosque-murder/; CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the Skull Mask Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^4]: CBC News. "Man found not criminally responsible in 2020 stabbing death at Toronto mosque." March 2023; Criminal Code of Canada, s. 672.54 (disposition of NCR accused by Review Board). diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Harry Vaughan.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Harry Vaughan.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3b4a927b --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Harry Vaughan.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - SonnenkriegDivision + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - Accelerationism + - London +location: "Kingston-upon-Thames, South-West London, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Harry Vaughan was an 18-year-old grammar school student from Kingston-upon-Thames convicted in November 2020 at the Old Bailey of 14 terrorism offences including creating Sonnenkrieg Division propaganda, who received a suspended sentence criticised by counter-extremism researchers." +--- + +Harry Vaughan, 18, of Kingston-upon-Thames, South-West London, was a student at [[Tiffin School]], a selective grammar school, where he had achieved A-grade A-levels in mathematics, further mathematics, physics, and history. He was arrested on 19 June 2019 as part of a [[Counter Terrorism Policing]] investigation into [[Fascist Forge]], an online extremist forum used by far-right militants. He pleaded guilty to 14 terrorism offences and two counts of possessing indecent images. He was sentenced at the [[Old Bailey]] in November 2020 by Mr Justice Sweeney, who described him as "a dangerous offender," to two years' detention suspended for two years.[^1] + +### Offences + +The 16 counts covered: + +One count of encouraging terrorism under section 1 of the [[Terrorism Act 2006]]. + +One count of disseminating a terrorist publication under section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006. + +Twelve counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]]. + +Two counts of possessing indecent images of children under the [[Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008]]. + +Vaughan had designed and uploaded his own propaganda images to a neo-Nazi website promoting the then-proscribed [[Sonnenkrieg Division]] (SKD). The documents on his devices included SKD propaganda of his own creation, bomb-making manuals, and a guide to killing. O9A connections run through SKD's ideological framework, which incorporated [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) philosophy; the prosecution did not cite direct O9A membership. + +### Sentencing and Controversy + +The suspended sentence attracted significant criticism from counter-extremism researchers and journalists, who noted that Mr Justice Sweeney had designated Vaughan a "dangerous offender" while simultaneously declining to impose an immediate custodial term. This perceived inconsistency was particularly noted in the context of earlier SKD cases, in which [[Michael Szewczuk]] had received four years and three months and [[Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski]] had received 18 months, both with immediate custody.[^2] + +The case occurred at roughly the same time as the sentencing of [[Ben John]] at Leicester Crown Court (August 2021), where a similarly controversial suspended sentence was subsequently overturned by the Court of Appeal on unduly lenient reference. Vaughan's sentence was not publicly referred for review under similar procedures. + +### Fascist Forge Investigation + +Counter Terrorism Policing's investigation into Fascist Forge, the platform on which Vaughan had been active, ran in parallel with the arrests of other UK-based users and identified multiple individuals. Vaughan was arrested at his family home.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ITV News London. "Teenage Satanist neo-Nazi avoids jail after admitting 14 terror offences." November 2, 2020. https://www.itv.com/news/london/2020-11-02/teenage-satanist-neo-nazi-harry-vaughan-sentenced-for-terror-offences + +[^2]: Far-Right Criminals. "Harry Vaughan: Neo-Nazi teenager sentenced." November 2, 2020. https://far-rightcriminals.com/2020/11/02/harry-vaughan-neo-nazi-teenager-sentenced/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Jacek Tchorzewski.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Jacek Tchorzewski.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..269777ba --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Jacek Tchorzewski.md @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - NeoNazi + - SonnenkriegDivision + - O9A + - UK + - TerroristConviction + - Accelerationism + - Satanism +location: "High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Jacek Tchorzewski was an 18-year-old Polish national in Buckinghamshire stopped at Luton Airport in February 2019 and convicted of ten terrorism possession offences at the Old Bailey, sentenced to four years, with documented interests in Satanism, neo-Nazism, and Sonnenkrieg Division." +--- + +Jacek Tchorzewski, 18, a Polish national residing in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was stopped at [[Luton Airport]] on 20 February 2019 by officers from the [[Eastern Region Specialist Operation Unit Counter Terrorism Policing]] (ERSOU CTP) as he attempted to board a flight to Poland. Acting under Schedule 7 powers of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]], officers seized his mobile phone. Digital forensic examination revealed a cache of terrorist manuals, bomb-making guides, and improvised weapons instructions. He pleaded guilty at the [[Old Bailey]] on 21 June 2019 to ten counts of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. He was sentenced on 20 September 2019 to four years' imprisonment. A deportation order was also made, requiring his removal from the United Kingdom following completion of sentence.[^1] + +### Materials Seized and Beliefs + +Tchorzewski had accumulated an extensive collection of extreme right-wing material that praised [[Adolf Hitler]], neo-Nazism, and Satanism, including antisemitic content calling for genocide. He expressed admiration for the [[Sonnenkrieg Division]] and held documented views on planned mass-casualty violence: in a notebook found in his prison cell, he wrote "Let's fill our hearts with terror and London's streets with blood," and he had previously stated that his "dream" was to carry out a large-scale attack.[^2] + +The prosecution described Tchorzewski as "a deeply entrenched neo-Nazi with an interest in Satanism and occult practices," placing his case within the constellation of O9A-adjacent terrorism cases in the UK involving Satanist and occultist materials. His link to [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) is through ideological orientation and Sonnenkrieg Division connection rather than documented direct nexion membership. + +### Subsequent Prosecution + +On 8 June 2020, Tchorzewski pleaded guilty to charges of possessing indecent photographs and extreme pornographic images. He was sentenced at [[Harrow Crown Court]] on 23 July 2020 to eight months' imprisonment to run concurrently with his terrorism sentence.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Hitler-loving neo-Nazi who said it was his 'dream' to create a bloodbath arrested at Luton Airport and sentenced to four years." September 2019. https://antisemitism.org/hitler-loving-neo-nazi-who-said-it-was-his-dream-to-create-a-bloodbath-arrested-at-luton-airport-and-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison; Kafkadesk. "18-year-old Polish neo-Nazi jailed on terror charges in the U.K." September 2019. https://kafkadeskdotorg.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/18-year-old-polish-neo-nazi-jailed-on-terror-charges-in-the-u-k/ + +[^2]: Faith Matters. "Nazi-Obsessed Teenager Who Dreamt of Planning Terrorism Jailed." September 2019. https://www.faith-matters.org/nazi-obsessed-teenager-who-dreamt-of-planning-terrorism-jailed/; Border Security Report. "Extreme Right Wing Teenager Jailed for Terrorism Offences." 2019. https://www.border-security-report.com/extreme-right-wing-teenager-jailed-for-terrorism-offences/ + +[^3]: HS Today. "Police Find Sexual Abuse Images on Phone of Convicted Right-Wing Extremist." 2020. https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/counterterrorism/police-find-sexual-abuse-images-on-phone-of-convicted-right-wing-extremist/; Luton Today. "'Satanic' neo-Nazi terrorist arrested at Luton Airport jailed for possessing extreme sex abuse images." 2020. https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/crime/satanic-neo-nazi-terrorist-arrested-at-luton-airport-jailed-for-possessing-extreme-sex-abuse-images-2923360 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Leonidas Varagiannis.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Leonidas Varagiannis.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..39312fbc --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Leonidas Varagiannis.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - 764Inferno + - ChildExploitation + - NVE + - FederalCase + - USA + - Greece +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Leonidas Varagiannis (alias 'War') is a U.S. citizen who co-led 764 Inferno with Prasan Nepal, arrested in Thessaloniki, Greece in April 2025 and charged in D.C. with running a child exploitation enterprise, contesting extradition as of mid-2026." +born: 2004 +location: "Thessaloniki, Greece" +--- + +[[Leonidas Varagiannis]], known online as "War," (born approximately 2004) is a U.S. citizen who was residing in [[Thessaloniki, Greece]] at the time of his April 29, 2025 arrest. He co-led [[764 Inferno]], a core operational subgroup of the [[764 Network]], alongside [[Prasan Nepal]] ("Trippy") of High Point, North Carolina. The [[U.S. Department of Justice|DOJ]] announced charges against both on April 30, 2025, filed in the [[District of Columbia]]. Varagiannis was arrested on an international warrant in Greece; his defense team contested extradition before the Greek Court of Appeals, with the appellate ruling still pending in mid-2025. He faces charges including production and distribution of [[CSAM]], coercion and enticement of minors, extortion, and conspiracy to operate a child exploitation enterprise, with a potential sentence of life in federal prison. He was also named as a co-conspirator in the October 2025 federal indictment against [[Baron Cain Martin]] in the District of Arizona.[^1] + +### 764 Inferno Operations + +Varagiannis and Nepal ran 764 Inferno's operations targeting vulnerable children and teenagers across multiple jurisdictions. The enterprise used the broader [[The Com|Com]] ecosystem's operational methods at scale: + +Grooming through encrypted applications established trust and access with vulnerable targets. Victims were then coerced into producing degrading and explicit content through psychological manipulation and threats. The network specifically ordered "cut signs" and "blood signs" - victims were directed to cut symbols into their own bodies, photograph the results, and send the images as proof of submission and continued compliance. + +The most distinctive operational feature was the "Lorebook" economy: curated collections of victim abuse material that functioned as currency and status markers within the network. Lorebooks were traded among members to recruit additional participants, maintain hierarchical position, and access other Lorebook collections. This created an internal incentive structure that drove ongoing coercion. + +The DOJ documented at least 8 minor victims, some as young as 13, across multiple jurisdictions.[^2] + +### Arrest and Extradition Proceedings + +Varagiannis was arrested by Greek authorities on April 29, 2025, the day before the DOJ announced charges. His defense attorney, [[Xanthippi Moysidou]], argued before Greek courts that because the alleged offenses occurred while Varagiannis was residing in Greece, Greek courts hold jurisdiction and extradition is "explicitly prohibited" under Greek law. He remained in Greek custody pending a ruling from the Greek Court of Appeals on the extradition challenge. No resolution of the appellate proceedings was publicly reported as of mid-2026. + +Nepal, having been arrested in North Carolina on April 22, 2025, faced direct U.S. federal prosecution with no extradition issues.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-DC. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 30, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise; Euronews. "US citizen faces extradition from Greece for alleged role in online child exploitation ring." May 2025. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/05/01/us-citizen-faces-extradition-from-greece-for-alleged-role-in-online-child-exploitation-rin +[^2]: ADL. "764." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764 diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Nicholas Welker.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Nicholas Welker.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..58ee7ac9 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Nicholas Welker.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - FeuerkriegDivision + - NeoNazi + - O9A + - InsightRole + - FederalCase + - NewYork + - USA + - TerroristConviction +born: 1990 +location: "San Jose, California" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Nicholas Welker, alias 'King ov Wrath,' was a San Jose-based Feuerkrieg Division leader and Order of Nine Angles adherent who in 2023 posted death threats against a Brooklyn journalist and was sentenced to 44 months in federal prison in April 2024." +--- + +Nicholas Welker (alias "King ov Wrath"), of [[San Jose, California]], served as a self-identified leader of [[Feuerkrieg Division]] (FKD) after the organization's nominal dissolution and reconstitution on [[Telegram]] in 2021. He was arrested on 21 March 2023 on charges arising from a death threat campaign against a journalist who had reported on FKD, pleaded guilty in September 2023 in the [[Eastern District of New York]], and was sentenced to 44 months in federal prison on 19 April 2024 by U.S. District Judge [[Pamela K. Chen]].[^1] + +### O9A Insight Role + +Welker was an adherent of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) and reportedly joined FKD as a deliberate "[[Insight Roles|insight role]]," consistent with O9A's documented practice of infiltrating existing violent extremist organizations as vehicles for the initiatory crimes prescribed by the [[Seven Fold Way]]. The O9A framework treats extended participation in a violent organization as a necessary developmental step (the "external adept" stage), during which the practitioner commits acts of violence or criminal disruption to test and harden ideological commitment.[^2] + +Welker's presence in FKD as an O9A practitioner rather than a straightforward neo-Nazi accelerationist is documented in reporting by the [[Counter Extremism Project]] and reflects a broader pattern visible in [[Atomwaffen Division]]'s evolution: O9A adherents using AWD and AWD-adjacent organizations as operational vehicles. In AWD's case the infiltration was orchestrated by [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] and [[John Cameron Denton]]; in FKD's case Welker appears to have operated independently rather than as part of a coordinated infiltration campaign. + +### Death Threat Campaign and Arrest + +On 28 March 2023 (approximately one week after his 21 March arrest), the DOJ press release documented that Welker had posted a specific death threat to a public online forum. The threat included a photograph of the targeted journalist with a gun graphic aimed at the journalist's head and the text "Race Traitor" superimposed over the journalist's eyes, along with the message "JOURNALIST F[---] OFF! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED." The threat identified the journalist and his employer by name.[^1] + +The journalist targeted had been reporting specifically on FKD. The threat was designed to force the journalist to cease that reporting. In this it paralleled AWD's coordinated 2020 journalist-harassment campaign organized by [[Kaleb Cole]], though Welker appears to have acted without a formal organization behind the threat. + +The Eastern District of New York brought the case rather than the Northern District of California (where Welker resided), presumably because the targeted journalist was based in Brooklyn and the threat was directed at a New York location. + +### Plea and Sentence + +Welker pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make interstate threats. The charge did not carry a terrorism enhancement, consistent with the pattern in most FKD-related US prosecutions. He was sentenced by Judge Chen to 44 months, the highest sentence imposed on any FKD-connected US defendant to that point, exceeding [[Jarrett William Smith]]'s 30-month term (2020) and [[Conor Climo]]'s 24-month term (2020).[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDNY. "Leader of White Supremacist Group Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Make Death Threats Against Journalist." September 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/leader-white-supremacist-group-pleads-guilty-conspiring-make-death-threats-against; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDNY. "White Supremacist Leader Sentenced to 44 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Make Death Threats Against Brooklyn Journalist." April 19, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/white-supremacist-leader-sentenced-44-months-prison-conspiring-make-death-threats +[^2]: Counter Extremism Project. "Feuerkrieg Division." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/feuerkrieg-division; Vice. "Neo-Nazi Leader 'ilovehate5150' Charged for Threatening to Kill Journalist." March 2023. https://www.vice.com/en/article/neo-nazi-nicholas-welker-arrested-feuerkrieg-division/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Richard Tobin.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Richard Tobin.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5f1890f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Richard Tobin.md @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - TheBase + - NeoNazi + - HateCrime + - FederalCase + - NewJersey + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Richard Tobin is a Brooklawn, New Jersey member of The Base who organized 'Operation Kristallnacht,' directing coordinated synagogue vandalism across two U.S. cities in 2019 and sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison." +born: 2001 +location: "Brooklawn, New Jersey" +--- + +[[Richard Tobin]] (born approximately 2001, [[Brooklawn, New Jersey]]) was a member of [[The Base]], the paramilitary white supremacist network founded by [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] in 2018, who in September 2019 organized "[[Operation Kristallnacht]]" - a coordinated synagogue vandalism campaign targeting two U.S. cities. He directed two other Base members via encrypted online communications to spray-paint hate symbols on synagogues in [[Racine, Wisconsin]] and [[Hancock, Michigan]] on September 21, 2019. He was charged with conspiracy against rights (18 U.S.C. § 241) in the District of New Jersey, pleaded guilty in February 2021, and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge [[Robert B. Kugler]] to one year and one day in federal prison plus three years of supervised release in November 2021.[^1] + +### Operation Kristallnacht + +Tobin organized the operation through encrypted online chat communications with at least two other Base members. The name invoked the November 1938 Nazi-organized pogrom against Jewish businesses and synagogues across Germany. On September 21, 2019, his co-conspirators executed the operation, defacing synagogues in Racine, Wisconsin and Hancock, Michigan with hate symbols. The simultaneous nature of the attacks in two geographically distant cities reflected The Base's broader ambition to operate as a coordinated national network rather than a local formation. + +Tobin cooperated with federal prosecutors following his arrest, reportedly providing information identifying his co-conspirators. His charge was filed as an information (not a grand jury indictment), a procedure typically indicating a plea arrangement reached before indictment. + +### Arrest and Sentencing + +The [[FBI]] investigated and charged Tobin in the [[U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey|District of New Jersey]]. He pleaded guilty in February 2021, acknowledging he had organized the operation via encrypted communications. Judge Robert B. Kugler sentenced him to one year and one day in federal prison plus three years of supervised release in November 2021. The sentence reflected both his cooperation and the relatively contained nature of the specific offense - property vandalism rather than violence against persons.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-NJ. "Camden County Man Sentenced to One Year and One Day in Prison for Conspiring with White Supremacists." https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/camden-county-man-sentenced-one-year-and-one-day-prison-conspiring-white-supremacists; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-NJ. "Camden County Man Admits Conspiring with White Supremacists to Vandalize Synagogues Across America." https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/camden-county-man-admits-conspiring-white-supremacists-vandalize-synagogues-across diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Rumaldo Valdez.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Rumaldo Valdez.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..593d3594 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Rumaldo Valdez.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - GreggyCult + - ChildExploitation + - FederalCase + - Hawaii + - USA + - Military +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Rumaldo Valdez was a U.S. Navy petty officer stationed in Hawaii and Greggy's Cult member, sentenced to 97 months for child pornography possession in March 2026, with additional EDNY charges pending." +born: 2004 +location: "Wahiawa, Hawaii" +--- + +[[Rumaldo Valdez]], known online as "Duck," was a [[U.S. Navy]] Petty Officer 3rd Class (E-4) stationed at Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific in [[Wahiawa, Hawaii]], a Department of Defense installation. He was a member of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the "Cult of Greg"), an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021 and is documented as a direct predecessor to the [[764 Network]]. The FBI arrested Valdez in May 2025 at the Wahiawa installation. He pleaded guilty on October 24, 2025, to possession of child pornography committed on a U.S. military base, and was sentenced in March 2026 to 97 months (approximately eight years) in federal prison plus 10 years of supervised release and $33,000 in restitution to 11 identified victims, by a federal judge in the [[District of Hawaii]]. Separate charges were pending against him in the [[Eastern District of New York]] as of that date.[^1] + +### Greggy's Cult Membership + +Greggy's Cult operated from approximately January 2020 through January 2021 using methods that would later define the 764 network's operational model: recruiting minor victims through gaming platforms and social media, coercing them into producing child sexual abuse material ([[CSAM]]), and blackmailing them with that material to compel ongoing compliance and self-harm. [[NCITE]] tracked Greggy's Cult alongside CVLT and 764 as one of three connected networks accounting for 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes by December 2025. + +Valdez's devices, seized at the time of his arrest, contained CSAM described in the government's sentencing memorandum as among "the most extreme child-abuse images in existence," stored in two password-encrypted digital containers.[^2] + +### Hawaii Charges and Sentencing + +State and federal investigators brought Valdez's case as possession of violent child pornography on a U.S. military installation, allowing federal jurisdiction. His October 24, 2025 guilty plea resolved the Hawaii charges, and his March 2026 sentencing imposed 97 months of incarceration, 10 years of supervised release, and $33,000 in restitution distributed to 11 identified victims. + +### Eastern District of New York Indictment + +A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment on December 3, 2025, charging Valdez alongside four co-defendants on 10 counts including engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, producing child pornography, and making interstate threats. The co-defendants were [[Camden Rodriguez]] (22, Longmont, Colorado), [[Zachary Dosch]] (26, Albuquerque, New Mexico - who had separately pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges but remained unsentenced), [[David Brilhante]] (28, San Diego, California), and [[Hector Bermudez]] (29, New York). The EDNY case was pending as of Valdez's March 2026 Hawaii sentencing.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704; KITV. "Former Navy petty officer sentenced to over 8 years in federal prison in child pornography case." https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/former-navy-petty-officer-sentenced-to-over-8-years-in-federal-prison-in-child-pornography/article_125297e0-b011-49d5-82ff-3b75d615a6d6.html +[^2]: Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "Navy petty officer sentenced to prison in sextortion case." March 2026. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2026/03/02/breaking-news/navy-petty-officer-sentenced-to-prison-in-sextortion-case/ diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Samuel Woodward.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Samuel Woodward.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ada6a155 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Samuel Woodward.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +--- +category: "Extremism & Violent Networks" +tags: + - Person + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Murder + - HateCrime + - California + - USA + - FederalCase +born: 1997 +location: "Newport Beach, California" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Samuel Woodward was an Atomwaffen Division member who in January 2018 stabbed gay Jewish college student Blaze Bernstein 28 times in California; convicted of hate crime murder in 2024 and sentenced to life without parole." +--- + +[[Samuel Woodward]] (full name Samuel Lincoln Woodward) was an [[Atomwaffen Division]] member from [[Newport Beach, California]] who on January 2, 2018 murdered [[Blaze Bernstein]], a 19-year-old gay Jewish student home from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] on winter break, stabbing him 28 times and burying his body in [[Borrego Park]] in [[Lake Forest, California]]. A jury at [[Orange County Superior Court]] convicted Woodward of first-degree murder with a hate crime enhancement on July 3, 2024. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on November 15, 2024, by Judge [[Kimberly Menninger]]. He was absent from sentencing due to illness. + +### AWD Membership + +Woodward's Atomwaffen Division membership was established through multiple overlapping lines of evidence. [[ProPublica]] and [[PBS FRONTLINE]] obtained photographs of Woodward attending AWD training meetings in Texas, as well as encrypted chat logs in which he openly identified as a National Socialist. He had attended a three-day AWD "Hate Camp" near San Antonio involving firearms training, hand-to-hand combat, camping, and survival instruction. He operated under the AWD aliases "Saboteur" and "Arn." Prosecutors also cited his dropping out of [[California State University Channel Islands]] to travel to Texas for AWD training. + +### Murder + +Woodward and Bernstein had attended the same high school, [[Orange County School of the Arts]], and had reconnected through a dating app in the months before the killing. On the night of January 2, 2018, Woodward picked Bernstein up from his family's Lake Forest home at approximately 11:00 p.m. He drove Bernstein to Borrego Park, where he stabbed him 28 times and buried the body. The body was discovered on January 10, 2018. Woodward was arrested two days later. + +Encrypted AWD chat logs obtained by ProPublica and FRONTLINE showed members celebrating the murder. One member wrote "I love this." Another called Woodward "a one man gay Jew wrecking crew." The logs documented the network's reaction as one of approval rather than concern.[^1] + +### Trial and Sentence + +The case was prosecuted in [[Orange County Superior Court]] as a hate crime murder, with the hate crime enhancement based on Bernstein's sexual orientation and Jewish identity. The trial lasted nearly three months. The jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts on July 3, 2024. Judge Kimberly Menninger sentenced Woodward to life in prison without the possibility of parole on November 15, 2024.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ProPublica / PBS FRONTLINE. "Armed and Dangerous." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-inside-white-hate-group; ProPublica. "California Murder Suspect Was Member of Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Division." https://www.propublica.org/article/california-murder-suspect-atomwaffen-division-extremist-hate-group +[^2]: Orange County District Attorney. "Newport Beach Man Convicted of Stabbing Gay Former High School Classmate to Death in 2018 Hate Crime Murder." July 3, 2024. https://orangecountyda.org/press/newport-beach-man-convicted-of-stabbing-gay-former-high-school-classmate-to-death-in-2018-hate-crime-murder/; Orange County District Attorney. "Newport Beach Man Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Possibility of Parole." November 15, 2024. https://orangecountyda.org/press/newport-beach-man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-without-possibility-of-parole-for-stabbing-gay-former-high-school-classmate-to-death-in-2018-hate-crime-murder/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/764 Inferno.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/764 Inferno.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fedecbcd --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/764 Inferno.md @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - NVE + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - CSAM + - ChildExploitation + - RICO + - FederalCase + - TheComNetwork + - Online +start: 2022 +location: Online (global) +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: 764 Inferno is the elite inner cell of the 764 network operating a Lorebook CSAM economy, led by Leonidas Varagiannis and Prasan Nepal at the time of their April 2025 RICO arrests in the District of Columbia. +--- + +[[764 Inferno]] is the elite inner cell of the [[764 Network|764]] nihilistic violent extremist network, distinguished from the broader 764 ecosystem by its operation of the [[Lorebook]] economy, an internal currency system based on curated collections of [[CSAM]] coerced from victims. Inferno membership requires demonstrating capacity to produce CSAM through 764's coercion model and involves active trading of that material among members to establish and maintain rank. The cell was led by [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] (alias "War") and [[Prasan Nepal]] (alias "Trippy") at the time of their arrests in April 2025 on federal RICO charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. [[Baron Cain Martin]] (alias "Convict") was named as a co-conspirator in both the DC proceedings and in a separate indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in October 2025.[^1] + +### Structure and Operations + +764 Inferno functions as a gated hierarchy within 764's broader network of approximately 100 active members and hundreds of affiliated chatrooms (as documented in 2025 federal proceedings). Entry into Inferno requires demonstrating coercive capacity through the production of CSAM from new victims, with Lorebook holdings serving as the proof of membership criteria. Inferno members hold authority within the broader 764 ecosystem and direct lower-tier members toward target acquisition. + +The network's exploitation model follows a documented escalation sequence: victims are initially recruited through social engineering into producing intimate photographs, then blackmailed with those images into producing self-harm footage (cut signs), then into more severe self-harm footage (blood signs), and in the most extreme documented cases, coerced toward suicidal acts. The footage produced at each stage becomes Lorebook material that the producing member uses to build their Inferno standing.[^2] + +Inferno operated across multiple platforms including [[Discord]], [[Telegram]], and encrypted messaging applications. Varagiannis and Nepal coordinated Inferno's activities from the United States (DC area and North Carolina respectively) with co-conspirators and victims internationally. The April 2025 indictment documented at least eight minor victims, some as young as 13 years old.[^1] + +### April 2025 Arrests + +The FBI arrested Prasan Nepal in North Carolina on April 22, 2025. Leonidas Varagiannis was arrested in Thessaloniki, Greece on April 29, 2025, by Greek authorities acting on U.S. charges. As of mid-2026, Varagiannis was contesting extradition before the Greek Court of Appeals. Nepal was charged in the District of Columbia with CSAM production, distribution, coercion, extortion, and conspiracy, with a potential life sentence. + +Both Varagiannis and Nepal were also named as co-conspirators in [[Baron Cain Martin]]'s October 2025 Arizona indictment, connecting the DC proceedings to the broader multi-district 764 enforcement wave.[^1] + +### Multi-District Enforcement Coordination + +764 Inferno's prosecution represents the DOJ's application of the child exploitation enterprise statute (18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)) and RICO framework to the inner leadership structure of a nihilistic violent extremist network. The Inferno proceedings, the Martin indictment, and the [[Tony Christopher Long]] Eastern District of California case were coordinated components of the multi-district enforcement wave against 764 that produced nine federal arrests and charges between December 2024 and October 2025. + +The Martin case added a terrorism count (material support for terrorism) alongside the Inferno-style exploitation enterprise charges, reflecting the DOJ's dual characterization of 764 as both a child exploitation enterprise and a nihilistic violent extremist network.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise +[^2]: ISD Global. "764: Networks of Harm." September 2025. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/764-networks-of-harm/; CNA Research. "764 and The Com: Misconceptions and Guidance." April 2026. +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/764 Network.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/764 Network.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ae9b7053 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/764 Network.md @@ -0,0 +1,95 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - ViolentExtremism + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - CSAM + - ChildExploitation + - Accelerationism + - O9A + - DomesticTerrorism + - OnlineExtremism + - TheCom +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "764 is a decentralized online child exploitation and coercion network founded around 2020, classified by the FBI as a Tier One terrorist threat with more than 350 active investigations as of 2026, operating within the broader Com ecosystem." +start: 2020 +location: "United States (online)" +--- + +[[764 Network|764]] is a decentralized, transnational network of online groups that engages in the sexual exploitation of minors, production and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), sextortion, coerced self-harm, and the glorification and incitement of real-world violence. The [[U.S. Department of Justice]] (DOJ) classifies 764 and its affiliated groups under the umbrella term "Nihilistic Violent Extremists" (NVEs), defined as individuals who engage in criminal conduct in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals rooted in a hatred of society and a desire to bring about its collapse through chaos and destruction.[^1] As of early 2026, the [[FBI]] was conducting more than 350 active investigations tied to 764 and similar networks, with DOJ career officials describing it as "as serious a threat as you can imagine."[^2] + +### Origins: CVLT and the Minecraft Server + +The immediate precursor to 764 was [[CVLT]], a [[Discord]]-based child exploitation network founded in 2019 by [[Rohan Rane]], a 23-year-old Indian national attending business school in [[Antibes, France]]. Rane built CVLT into a several-hundred-member community in which he lured underage girls from around the world, obtained compromising photographs, and blackmailed victims into escalating self-harm and suicidal acts, all broadcast live over webcam. Rane was arrested in France in 2021.[^3] + +The connection between CVLT and 764 runs through a single individual: [[Bradley Chance Cadenhead]], a 15-year-old school dropout in [[Texas]] who encountered a CVLT member in a [[Minecraft]] server and absorbed its methods. Cadenhead, operating under the alias "Felix," founded 764 in 2020-2021 and named the group after his local zip code.[^4] He was arrested in August 2021 after investigators traced a CSAM upload on Discord to his mother's apartment, convicted in Texas state court on nine counts of child pornography possession, and sentenced on May 16, 2023 to 80 years in state prison.[^5] + +764's founding and early spread coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, which drove vulnerable adolescents deeper into online spaces and created conditions the network exploited for recruitment. + +### Ideology: Nihilism, Accelerationism, and O9A Aesthetics + +764's ideology carries no coherent political program and affiliates with no single tradition, but it operates within a recognizable environment. At its core, 764 embraces destruction and chaos as ends in themselves, drawing on the [[accelerationism]] current that holds existing social structures must be violently destabilized before any new order can emerge. According to DOJ prosecutors, 764's stated goal is societal collapse and the establishment of a "survival of the fittest" model.[^2] + +764 draws heavily on the visual aesthetics and some conceptual apparatus of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A), the British occultist neo-Nazi organization. O9A's doctrine of [[Insight Roles]] (in which initiates are required to commit real crimes as a form of spiritual development) maps directly onto 764's content-creation economy, in which members must produce evidence of criminal acts to advance in rank. O9A's published texts, particularly [[Iron Gates]] (published 2014 by [[Tempel ov Blood]] through [[Martinet Press]]), which depicts post-apocalyptic violence including child murder and cannibalism framed as spiritual instruction, circulated through [[Terrorgram]] channels and directly influenced 764's operational environment.[^6] The connection is primarily aesthetic and structural: 764 is not an O9A nexion, and its members do not generally claim O9A affiliation, but both networks share a radicalization pipeline, overlapping personnel, and a common logic of transgression-as-initiation. + +### Structure: Hierarchy and Content Economy + +764 operates through a nested, cell-based hierarchy that combines operational compartmentalization with a content-production economy. Advancement through the ranks requires documented criminal output: + +- Cell Owner: ultimate strategic authority over a given cell +- Council Members: decision-makers on recruitment, promotions, and internal disputes +- Veterans: proven members with substantial histories of producing violent or exploitative content +- Recruits: new members working toward veteran status +- Inner Cells: elite, highly restricted subgroups requiring demonstrated commitment at the veteran level + +Internal communications obtained by researchers reveal explicit content quotas. Members seeking advancement were expected to document grooming of minors for self-harm, arson, "brickings" (throwing bricks; three required for advancement), graffiti (five required), and animal cruelty. Animal abuse was characterized within the network as "one of the lowest and easiest transgressive barriers of entry a minor will carry out."[^7] A member identified in court documents as a 764 leader told recruits: "after producing content you'll grow up the ranks, once you hit veteran you'll be invited to the inferno," referring to [[764 Inferno]], the most restricted inner cell and the subject of the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]] RICO case against [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]].[^8] + +Operational security within 764 is deliberate: members rotate identities, maintain multiple aliases, use deleted and "ghost" accounts, and create fake "dupe" cells to mislead law enforcement. Cross-cell membership provides resilience against takedowns.[^7] + +### Platforms and Recruitment Infrastructure + +764 operates primarily across [[Discord]], [[Telegram]], [[Roblox]], and various rotating platforms. Recruiters target online spaces frequented by vulnerable minors, including LGBTQ+ youth, teenagers struggling with mental health issues, and individuals in grief or crisis. The grooming process employs "love bombing" (overwhelming a target with affection and acceptance before obtaining compromising material), followed by escalating blackmail once CSAM is secured.[^1] + +The network circulated multiple operational guides: a "Sextortion Handbook" specifying grooming and blackmail techniques, a "Suicide Guide," and a "Dox Guide" for threatening and locating victims. [[Baron Cain Martin]] ("Convict"), the Arizona leader subsequently charged with federal terrorism offenses, wrote and distributed a detailed grooming guide advising 764 members to prioritize victims already struggling with mental health, on the grounds that vulnerability is the primary targeting criterion.[^9] + +### Splinter Groups and Network Evolution + +After Cadenhead's 2021 arrest and the disruption of 764's original leadership, the network fractured into successor and affiliated groups that researchers and DOJ prosecutors collectively call "[[The Com]]" (short for "the community"). These splinter organizations maintain 764's aesthetic, tactics, and content economy under distinct names. Documented successor groups include [[Harm Nation]], [[CVLTIST]], [[Court]], [[Kaskar]], [[Leak Society]], [[H3ll]], [[6996]], [[7997]], and [[Slit Town]]. Despite operating under separate banners, these groups are considered continuous with 764 due to shared personnel, visual aesthetics, and involvement in child sexual exploitation and online harassment.[^1] + +### Federal Prosecutions + +The United States government had charged at least 37 people with ties to 764 or affiliated networks as of mid-2026, with more than 350 FBI investigations ongoing.[^2] The most significant cases include: + +[[Baron Cain Martin]] ("Convict"), 21, of [[Tucson, Arizona]]: A 29-count superseding indictment returned in the District of Arizona in October 2025 charged Martin with participating in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists (the first such charge applied to a 764 member), conspiring to kill or maim persons in a foreign country, five counts of producing CSAM, eleven counts of distributing CSAM, three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity, three counts of cyberstalking, animal crushing, and wire fraud conspiracy. Martin was arrested December 11, 2024 and has been in federal custody since. He allegedly victimized at least nine people, eight of them minors between the ages of 11 and 15. Attorney General [[Pamela Bondi]] and FBI Director [[Kash Patel]] both addressed the case at announcement.[^9] + +[[Leonidas Varagiannis]] ("War"), 21, a U.S. citizen residing in [[Thessaloniki, Greece]], and [[Prasan Nepal]] ("Trippy"), 20, of [[North Carolina]]: Charged in the District of Columbia with operating the "764 Inferno" inner cell as a global child exploitation enterprise. Varagiannis was arrested in Greece in April 2025; Nepal was arrested in North Carolina on April 22, 2025. Nepal had been involved with 764 since late 2020, near the network's inception; Varagiannis joined in late 2023. The alleged conspiracy included coercing victims to cut 764 members' names into their bodies, self-immolation, animal abuse, sexual exploitation of siblings, and threats of murder. Victims were as young as 13.[^8] + +[[Tony Christopher Long]] ("Inactive," "Inactivee0," "inactivecvx"), 19, of [[Porterville, California]]: A six-count indictment in the Eastern District of California charged Long with animal crushing (two counts), sexual exploitation of a minor, possession of CSAM, cyberstalking, and interstate threats. Long faces a maximum of 69 years in prison and was in state custody on related charges at the time of the federal indictment.[^10] + +Additional cases: A former [[U.S. Navy]] petty officer and four others were charged in December 2025 with founding an online extortion group that prosecutors said helped spawn 764. As of April 2026, [[Project Compass]], an operation coordinated by [[Europol]] with participation from 28 countries including all [[Five Eyes]] members, had resulted in the arrest of 30 perpetrators, the partial or full identification of 179 suspects, and the rescue of four victims.[^11] + +### Scale of Harm and DOJ Threat Assessment + +In the first nine months of 2025, law enforcement received more than 2,000 abuse reports tied to 764, double the rate of the prior year.[^2] Victims have ranged in age from as young as nine years old. + +DOJ Trial Attorney [[Justin Sher]] (National Security Division) described 764's content as so extreme that "I don't think Stephen King is dark enough to come up with some of the stuff," noting that members use violent and exploitative content as internal currency to build status.[^2] DOJ Domestic Terrorism Coordinator [[James Donnelly]] characterized the threat as "as serious a threat as you can imagine" and warned that members were "trying to metastasize the evil."[^2] DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section chief [[Steve Grocki]] noted in rare public comments that current law makes self-harm coercion cases difficult to prosecute and that the government has had to employ creative applications of existing statutes.[^2] + +### Documented Attacks and Violence Attribution + +As of May 2026, the most direct connection between the 764 ecosystem and lethal real-world violence came through the accelerationist ideological pipeline 764 shares with groups like [[Atomwaffen Division]] and [[Terrorgram Collective]], rather than through a confirmed 764 member committing a mass casualty attack. The two perpetrators of the [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting]], [[Cain Clark]] (17) and [[Caleb Vazquez]] (18), cited Atomwaffen Division and Terrorgram in their manifestos but had no confirmed direct 764 affiliation. Europe-based groups in the 764 network have been linked to at least three stabbing sprees. The DOJ's terrorism charge against Baron Cain Martin (based on a conspiracy to direct a foreign victim to self-harm and self-kill) represents the first formal legal recognition that 764's coercive violence constitutes terrorism.[^9] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ISD Global. "764." Explainer, 2025. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-explainer/764/ +[^2]: Sher, Justin; Donnelly, James; Grocki, Steve; Babu, Kavitha. Quoted in: "In rare public comments, career DOJ officials offer chilling warnings about online network 764." *ABC News*, 2026. https://abcnews.com/US/rare-public-comments-career-doj-officials-offer-chilling/story?id=128526657 +[^3]: ARC Research. "CVLT Historical Threat Assessment of the Precursor to 764." https://www.accresearch.org/shortanalysis/svjdmt1twn9ccz0c4uxnbqrauywwcn +[^4]: ADL. "764." Backgrounder. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764 +[^5]: CyberScoop. "Leaders of 764, global child sextortion group, arrested and charged." 2025. https://cyberscoop.com/764-leaders-arrested-charged-child-sextortion/ +[^6]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "The 764 Network: A Global Threat for Child Abuse and Radicalization." https://globalextremism.org/post/764-network/ +[^7]: "Blood, Betrayal, and Branding: Inside 764's Hierarchy of Horrors." *maargentino.com*, 2025. https://www.maargentino.com/blood-betrayal-and-branding-inside-764s-hierarchy-of-horrors/ +[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-DC. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." Press Release, April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise +[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." Press Release, October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise +[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Member of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Animal Crushing, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Cyberstalking and Interstate Threats." Press Release, October 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/member-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-animal-crushing-sexual-exploitation-minor +[^11]: CyberScoop. "Project Compass is Europol's new playbook for taking on The Com." https://cyberscoop.com/project-compass-the-com-europol/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Antipodean Resistance.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Antipodean Resistance.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ae7fd5e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Antipodean Resistance.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - IronMarch + - Australia + - SiegeCulture +start: 2016 +location: "Australia" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Antipodean Resistance was an Australian neo-Nazi organization announced on Iron March in October 2016 by founding member Tim Heibach, several of whose leadership members were identified through the 2019 Iron March database leak." +--- + +[[Antipodean Resistance]] was an Australian neo-Nazi organization formed in October 2016 and announced to the [[Iron March]] community on October 10, 2016, in a post inviting Australian Iron March users to contact founding members operating under the usernames "Xav" and "Kehlsteinhaus." It was one of several offline organizations incubated directly by Iron March during the forum's active period, alongside [[National Action]] (UK) and [[Atomwaffen Division]] (US). + +### Founding on Iron March + +The October 10, 2016 Iron March announcement identified two initial points of contact and described the group as an Australian analog to the transnational neo-Nazi organizations being built elsewhere through the forum's community. The group adopted the slogan "We're the Hitlers you've been waiting for" and incorporated Nazi symbols, skull masks, and accelerationist ideology consistent with the Iron March milieu.[^1] + +[[Tim Heibach]], who operated under the username "Xav" and additional aliases "Mathew Baston" and "Matty B," was the founding member identified through the username listed in the original Iron March announcement. The 2019 [[Iron March]] database leak confirmed Heibach, a Melbourne-based individual, as the person behind "Xav." He is considered a founding member of Antipodean Resistance based on his role in the initial announcement and early organizational activity.[^1] + +[[Nathaniel Anderson]], operating under the usernames "HalArts" and "Rusty Sandusky," was identified through the database leak as another early Antipodean Resistance member from the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne. [[Jacob Hersant]] was identified as a further member of the founding cohort.[^1] + +### Organizational Character + +Antipodean Resistance modeled itself on [[National Action]] and [[Atomwaffen Division]], organizing around physical fitness culture, propaganda production, and occasional demonstrations. It circulated printed materials including posters that targeted LGBTQ+ communities, Jewish institutions, and asylum seekers. Like its Iron March sibling organizations, it drew ideologically on [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]* and on the accelerationist framework that Iron March had popularized beginning in 2015. + +The group operated during a period when Australian authorities had not yet developed systematic responses to neo-Nazi accelerationist formations. It is not known to have been formally proscribed under Australian law as of 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: The White Rose Society. "Antipodean Resistance and the Lads Society." https://thewhiterosesociety.writeas.com/antipodean-resistance-and-the-lads-society; Times of Israel Blogs. "Antipodean Resistance: Australia's New Nazis." https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/antipodean-resistance-australias-new-nazis/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Atomwaffen Division.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Atomwaffen Division.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a98ce026 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Atomwaffen Division.md @@ -0,0 +1,136 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - AtomwaffenDivision + - O9A + - TemplovBlood + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - DomesticTerrorism + - Military + - Russia + - RussianImperialMovement + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Atomwaffen Division was an American neo-Nazi paramilitary network founded by Brandon Russell in 2015, linked to multiple murders and terrorism plots, that received paramilitary training from the Russian Imperial Movement in St. Petersburg, and dissolved through federal prosecutions after 2020." +start: 2015 +end: 2020 +location: "United States" +--- + +[[Atomwaffen Division]] (AWD, German for "atomic weapons division") was an American neo-Nazi paramilitary organization founded in 2015 by [[Brandon Russell]] and initially announced on the neo-fascist web forum [[Iron March]]. Before it effectively dissolved through a series of federal prosecutions between 2020 and 2022, AWD was linked by law enforcement and journalists to at least five murders and numerous terrorism plots, and it underwent a major ideological transformation beginning in 2017 when the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) American nexion [[Tempel ov Blood]] infiltrated its leadership and converted it into an occultist accelerationist organization drawing heavily on the [[Insight Roles]] doctrine and the texts of [[Martinet Press]]. + +### Founding on Iron March + +AWD was officially announced to the Iron March community on October 12, 2015, by Brandon Russell. [[Iron March]] was a neo-fascist web forum founded in 2011 by Russian nationalist [[Alisher Mukhitdinov]] (alias "Alexander Slavros") and active until its closure in 2017. It served as the incubator for several neo-Nazi and neo-fascist organizations in the United States and Europe during that period. Russell had been organizing AWD for years before the Iron March announcement, claiming later that he had been recruiting since at least 2012. + +AWD's founding ideology drew heavily on [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]*, a collection of essays from Mason's 1980-1986 newsletter for the [[National Socialist Liberation Front]], compiled and published as a book in 1992 by Storm Books. *Siege* explicitly advocates lone-wolf terrorism and accelerationist violence, arguing that the collapse of liberal democratic society can be hastened through cascading terrorist attacks. Iron March had rediscovered and popularized *Siege* in 2015, and it became the ideological lodestar for AWD and the broader network of groups that emerged from the Iron March milieu.[^1] + +AWD operated through small local cells, maintained a presence across the United States and in several other countries, and conducted "Hate Camp" paramilitary trainings that combined firearms training with ideological instruction. At its peak the organization ran chapters in most major American urban areas. + +### The Tampa Murders and Russell's First Arrest + +The first major law enforcement action against AWD emerged not from federal counterterrorism operations but from a homicide in Tampa, Florida. On May 19, 2017, [[Devon Arthurs]], an AWD co-founder and roommate of Russell who had converted from neo-Nazism to Islam, shot and killed two fellow AWD members: [[Andrew Oneschuk]] (18) and [[Jeremy Himmelman]] (22), both from Massachusetts. Arthurs told police they had mocked his Islamic conversion and that they were planning terrorist attacks. + +When police arrested Arthurs that night and searched the apartment he shared with Russell and the victims, they found ammonium nitrate, nitromethane, homemade detonators, hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), and two radioactive substances (thorium and americium) in Russell's possession. An FBI bomb technician assessed the materials as powerful enough to destroy an airliner. Russell, then 21, was arrested the same night.[^2] + +In September 2017, Russell pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing an unregistered destructive device and illegally storing explosives. In January 2018 he was sentenced to five years in federal prison. He was released in August 2021. + +### Additional AWD-Linked Violence + +#### Nicholas Giampa (December 2017) + +[[Nicholas Giampa]], a 17-year-old from [[Lorton, Virginia]] who was an AWD follower (though not a formal member), shot and killed Scott Fricker and Buckley Kuhn-Fricker, the parents of his girlfriend, in their [[Reston, Virginia]] home on December 22, 2017. Giampa maintained a Twitter account under the handle @RyanAtomwaffen that shared AWD propaganda. After the shootings he turned the gun on himself, surviving with severe brain damage. He was indicted in Fairfax County Circuit Court on two counts of first-degree murder. The case never reached trial: Giampa was found incompetent in August 2018, had competency restored briefly, was found incompetent again in 2023, and died in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on August 22-23, 2024.[^8] + +#### Samuel Woodward (January 2018) + +[[Samuel Woodward]], a [[Newport Beach, California]] resident and AWD member documented through photographs at Texas training camps and encrypted chat logs, murdered [[Blaze Bernstein]], a 19-year-old gay Jewish [[University of Pennsylvania]] student, in Borrego Park in [[Lake Forest, California]] on January 2, 2018, stabbing Bernstein 28 times and burying him in a shallow grave. Bernstein's body was not discovered until January 10. AWD members celebrated the killing in encrypted communications. Woodward was tried in Orange County Superior Court before Judge [[Kimberly Menninger]]; a jury found him guilty with a hate crime enhancement on July 3, 2024. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole on November 15, 2024.[^9] + +### Tempel ov Blood Infiltration (2017) + +Shortly before the Tampa murders, AWD's Texas leader [[John Cameron Denton]] had begun cultivating a relationship with [[Tempel ov Blood]], the American nexion of the [[Order of Nine Angles]], and its leader [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]]. Denton was attracted to ToB's synthesis of National Socialism and Satanic occultism. He invited ToB members into AWD in the spring of 2017, and Sutter joined under the alias "swissdiscipline." + +Sutter attended AWD's Hate Camps in 2017 and 2018 and organized the [[2019 AWD Nuclear Congress]] in Las Vegas in September 2019, using FBI-provided funds to cover member travel and lodging. [[James Mason]], author of *Siege* and the ideological godfather of the AWD milieu, made his first documented in-person appearance with AWD at the Nuclear Congress, delivering speeches calling for murder and lone-wolf attacks against the government. At least nine O9A/ToB members came to hold key positions within AWD. Denton made the Martinet Press publications (*[[Iron Gates]]*, *Liber 333*, *Bluebird*) required or approved reading for AWD members, and AWD's online presence began promoting O9A aesthetics and texts alongside the existing *Siege* culture.[^3] + +The merger was controversial within AWD. Members who had joined as straightforward National Socialists objected to Satanism as ideological contamination. Several left. Those who remained were exposed to a framework that construed murder as spiritual practice and the group's violence as evidence of O9A-style initiatory transgression. + +Sutter was, throughout his entire time in AWD, a paid FBI informant. His informant status and the specific financial details of his arrangement were revealed in 2021 through court documents in the prosecution of Kaleb Cole. The government acknowledged that Sutter's work was "instrumental in the prosecutions" against AWD members.[^4] + +### Swatting Campaign and Denton's Arrest + +In October 2018 and continuing through at least April 2019, Denton and other AWD members organized a coordinated "swatting" campaign (calling emergency services with false reports of imminent violence to send armed police to an unwitting target's address). The targets included a Virginia university, an unnamed former U.S. Cabinet member, a historic Black church outside [[Washington, D.C.]], an Islamic Center in [[Arlington, Texas]], and members of various minority communities across the United States, in what prosecutors called "the most widespread swatting conspiracy in the country" known to federal law enforcement. + +Denton was arrested in a raid on his home in Conroe, Texas, on February 26, 2020. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia in May 2021 to 41 months in prison, with a hate crime enhancement applied. Denton expressed no remorse at sentencing.[^5] + +### Cole's Intimidation Campaign and Conviction + +[[Kaleb Cole]], the senior AWD figure in [[Washington state]], organized a separate parallel campaign: in January 2020, Cole and associates mailed threatening posters to the homes of Jewish activists and journalists of color. The posters, which included swastikas, skulls, and phrases such as "We know where you live" and "Death to Pigs," were also affixed to victims' homes. Cole was convicted by a federal jury in the Western District of Washington on all five counts, including conspiracy to commit hate crimes, mailing threatening communications, and cyberstalking, and was sentenced in 2022 to 84 months (seven years) in prison.[^6] + +It was the Cole prosecution that, through motion-to-suppress filings, revealed Sutter's status as an FBI informant. The filings described the confidential informant without naming him, but the details made identification apparent.[^4] + +### The Melzer Plot + +[[Ethan Phelan Melzer]], a Private in the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy, was arrested in May 2020 after he transmitted classified intelligence about his unit's planned deployment to Turkey to O9A members on [[Telegram]], operating under the alias "Etil Reggad." The classified material included base locations, personnel numbers, defensive capabilities, and satellite imagery, with the stated intention of enabling a mass-casualty attack on American soldiers by a combination of Al-Qaeda-affiliated forces and O9A members. Melzer was convicted in the Southern District of New York, where he described himself as "a traitor against the United States whose conduct was tantamount to treason," and was sentenced in March 2023 to 45 years in prison.[^7] + +The Melzer case demonstrated that AWD/O9A influence had penetrated the U.S. military, consistent with earlier reports about [[Jarrett William Smith]], an Army specialist at Fort Riley, Kansas, arrested in 2019 for distributing explosives manuals and discussing attacks on anti-fascist groups and media organizations. + +### Military Penetration: Documented Cases + +AWD's penetration of the U.S. and allied militaries was not incidental to its ideology. Russell, in a 2016 post on Iron March later cited in a 2020 [[Pentagon]] report to Congress, wrote "I was 100% open about everything with the friends I made at training. They know about it all. They love me too cause I'm a funny guy." The same report noted that AWD and similar groups explicitly targeted veterans and active-duty members for their weapons training and tactical knowledge.[^10] + +Russell himself served in the [[Florida Army National Guard]] (Company C, 53rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, [[53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team]], Pinellas Park) from February 2016 while simultaneously leading AWD. Devon Arthurs's statements to detectives revealed to law enforcement that joining the military was an organizational strategy. Russell was dishonorably discharged as a consequence of his 2017 explosives conviction. + +[[Vasillios George Pistolis]], a Lance Corporal assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 8, [[2nd Marine Logistics Group]], [[Camp Lejeune]], was identified in May 2018 by [[ProPublica]] as an AWD member who participated in the [[Unite the Right rally|2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally]], where he was photographed beating a protester with a flagpole. He was found guilty at a summary court-martial on June 19, 2018, for failure to obey an order and making a false official statement, and was administratively separated from the Marine Corps on July 11, 2018.[^11] + +[[David Cole Tarkington]], an aviation machinist mate's apprentice with [[Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-41]] (the "Black Aces") at [[Naval Air Station Lemoore]], California, was identified in March 2020 via the leaked Iron March data as a prolific AWD recruiter. Operating under the username "The Yank" on Iron March from 2013 to 2016, he attempted to recruit at least twelve Iron March members into AWD. [[NCIS]] investigated following Gizmodo's reporting, and Tarkington was administratively separated from the Navy in April 2020. No criminal charges were filed.[^12] + +Jarrett William Smith, a Specialist at Fort Riley, Kansas, was arrested September 21, 2019. He was an admirer of AWD and a member of [[Feuerkrieg Division]]. He pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing IED and napalm instructions (18 U.S.C. § 842(p)(2)(A)) and was sentenced to 30 months by Judge [[Daniel D. Crabtree]] in the District of Kansas. + +Ethan Phelan Melzer, a Private in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, was arrested June 2020. An active O9A and AWD member operating within the [[RapeWaffen Division]] nexion, he transmitted classified unit intelligence to O9A contacts to facilitate a mass-casualty attack on his platoon. He pleaded guilty on June 24, 2022, to attempted murder of U.S. service members (18 U.S.C. § 1114), material support to terrorists ([[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]]), and unlawful transmission of national defense information (18 U.S.C. § 793(d)). He was sentenced to 45 years on March 6, 2023, by Judge [[Gregory H. Woods]], S.D.N.Y. + +[[Patrik Jordan Mathews]], a master corporal in the Canadian Army Reserve's [[38 Combat Engineer Regiment]], was identified as a [[The Base]] member in August 2019 and fled to the United States, where he was arrested January 16, 2020, in connection with a plot to attack the [[Virginia Citizens Defense League]] rally. He was sentenced to nine years in U.S. federal prison on October 28, 2021.[^13] + +A related case not constituting AWD membership but involving AWD-adjacent Iron March networks: [[Liam Collins (AWD)|Liam Collins]] and [[Jordan Duncan]], former Marines from Camp Lejeune, participated with civilian co-conspirators in an Iron March network that planned power grid attacks in the northwestern United States, using AWD skull masks in training videos. Collins was sentenced to 10 years and Duncan to 7 years in the [[Eastern District of North Carolina]] in 2024.[^14] + +The Florida Guard's two-page summary investigation of Russell following Arthurs's 2017 arrest contained no mention of Arthurs's warnings about AWD military infiltration and produced no documented alert to other military branches. ProPublica/Frontline's 2018 investigation found no evidence the Guard notified other services. The FBI declined to comment on what steps it took.[^10] + +### Russian Imperial Movement Training + +AWD's transnational connections included a documented training relationship with the [[Russian Imperial Movement]] (RIM), a [[St. Petersburg]]-based white supremacist paramilitary organization designated a [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] entity by the [[U.S. Department of State]] on April 7, 2020. + +In 2018, AWD leader [[Kaleb Cole]] and AWD member [[Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh]], both from Olympia, [[Washington state]], traveled to Europe. According to investigative reporting drawing on federal prosecution materials, they crossed into [[Russia]] via the Donbas green corridor in [[Ukraine]] and attended RIM's [[Partizan]] training camp in St. Petersburg. The training covered firearms, explosives, squad movement, and small-unit tactics, conducted by former Russian military personnel. After completing training, Cole and Bruce-Umbaugh passed through Poland and photographed themselves at [[Auschwitz]] concentration camp before returning to the United States. Cole continued directing AWD's national leadership until his February 2020 federal arrest. Bruce-Umbaugh was charged in the Northern District of Texas (5:19-cr-00130) and sentenced to 30 months on a firearms count on April 28, 2020.[^15] + +In approximately 2020, RIM provided additional training at Partizan to other American nationals affiliated with AWD, in a separate arrangement from the 2018 Cole/Bruce-Umbaugh trip. The [[CTC West Point]] analysis of the skull-mask neo-fascist network documented this second training cohort.[^16] + +The RIM connection places AWD within a documented infrastructure of Russian-based paramilitary training for Western neo-Nazis. RIM's Partizan facility was the same camp that trained two members of the [[Nordic Resistance Movement]] from Sweden before they carried out bombings in Gothenburg in January 2017, the case that ultimately prompted the U.S. SDGT designation. RIM's paramilitary wing, the [[Imperial Legion]], also sent volunteers to fight alongside Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine from 2014. The co-location of AWD's leadership training with this infrastructure in St. Petersburg, in the same city where [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] (founder of [[The Base]]) relocated in 2017-2018, describes a pattern of Western accelerationist organization access to Russian-based paramilitary resources in a single geographic node.[^17] + +### Russell's Second Arrest and Grid Attack Conviction + +After his August 2021 release from federal prison, Russell was arrested again in February 2023, this time for planning attacks on electric power substations in the [[Baltimore, Maryland]] area. He was convicted and sentenced on August 7, 2025 to 20 years in federal prison.[^2] + +### Organizational Legacy + +AWD effectively ceased to exist as a functioning organization through the combination of federal prosecutions against its leadership, Russell's imprisonment, Denton's imprisonment, Cole's imprisonment, and the dispersal of members. The organizational model AWD pioneered (small autonomous cells, *Siege*-style lone-wolf glorification, O9A-inflected occult initiation, Hate Camps, and direct paramilitary training) has been replicated or adapted by successor networks. AWD's influence on [[Terrorgram Collective]] and on the broader accelerationist pipeline that informed the manifestos of [[Cain Clark]] and [[Caleb Vazquez]] in the [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting]] is documented in the manifestos themselves, which explicitly cite Atomwaffen Division as an inspiration. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^2]: CNN. "Brandon Russell: Neo-Nazi group leader convicted of plotting Maryland power grid attack." February 4, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/04/us/neo-nazi-maryland-grid-attack +[^3]: Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ +[^4]: Vice. "FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim." 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/fbi-bankrolled-publisher-of-occult-neo-nazi-books-feds-claim/ +[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDVA. "Former Atomwaffen Division Leader Sentenced for Swatting Conspiracy." Press Release, May 2021. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-atomwaffen-division-leader-sentenced-swatting-conspiracy +[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leader of Neo-Nazi Group Sentenced for Plot to Target Journalists and Advocates." https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/leader-neo-nazi-group-sentenced-plot-target-journalists-and-advocates +[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-SDNY. "Former U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced To 45 Years In Prison For Attempting To Murder Fellow Service Members In Deadly Ambush." Press Release, March 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-us-army-soldier-sentenced-45-years-prison-attempting-murder-fellow-service +[^8]: Washington Post. "A teenager who followed neo-Nazi propaganda online killed his girlfriend's parents. He never stood trial." https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/08/nicholas-giampa-atomwaffen-death/; Courthouse News Service. "Atomwaffen Follower Nicholas Giampa Dies in Jail Without Trial." August 2024. +[^9]: Los Angeles Times. "Jury finds Newport Beach man guilty of hate crime murder of gay, Jewish college student." July 3, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-03/samuel-woodward-hate-crime-murder-verdict; Orange County District Attorney. "Samuel Lincoln Woodward Sentenced to Life Without Possibility of Parole." Press Release, November 2024. +[^10]: Roll Call. "Pentagon Report Reveals Inroads White Supremacists Have Made in Military." February 2021. https://rollcall.com/2021/02/16/pentagon-report-reveals-inroads-white-supremacists-have-made-in-military/; ProPublica / PBS Frontline. "An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down. What Path Officials Took Is a Mystery." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/an-atomwaffen-member-sketched-a-map-to-take-the-neo-nazis-down-what-path-officials-took-is-a-mystery; Tampa Bay Times. "How Did Florida National Guard Miss Soldier's Neo-Nazi Leanings?" 2017. https://www.tampabay.com/news/military/how-did-florida-national-guard-miss-soldiers-neo-nazi-leanings/2324930/ +[^11]: ProPublica. "U.S. Marine to Be Imprisoned Over Involvement With Hate Groups." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/vasilios-pistolis-imprisoned-marine-hate-groups; Marine Corps Times. "Neo-Nazi Marine Found Guilty at Summary Court-Martial." June 19, 2018. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/06/19/neo-nazi-marine-found-guilty-at-summary-court-martial/ +[^12]: Gizmodo. "Leak Exposes U.S. Navy Sailor as Once-Prolific Recruiter for Neo-Nazi Group." March 12, 2020. https://gizmodo.com/leak-exposes-u-s-navy-sailor-as-once-prolific-recruite-1841149776; Newsweek. "Navy Kicks Out Alleged Recruiter for Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Division After Investigation." April 2020. https://www.newsweek.com/navy-kicks-out-alleged-recruiter-neo-nazi-group-atomwaffen-division-after-investigation-1498704 +[^13]: CBC News. "U.S. Judge Sentences Manitoban Ex-Reservist Patrik Mathews to 9 Years in Prison for Role in Neo-Nazi Plot." October 28, 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/patrik-mathews-sentencing-1.6226116 +[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDNC. "Defendants with Ties to White Supremacy Sentenced in Connection with Plot to Destroy Energy Facilities." 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/defendants-ties-white-supremacy-sentenced-connection-plot-destroy-energy-facilities +[^15]: Malcontent News. "Washington's Defunct Atomwaffen Division had Deep Ties to the Terrorist Org, Russia Imperialist Movement." July 4, 2022. https://malcontentment.com/washingtons-defunct-atomwaffen-division-had-deep-ties-to-the-terrorist-org-russia-imperialist-movement/; Cipher Brief. "Examining Atomwaffen Division's Transnational Linkages." https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/examining-atomwaffen-divisions-transnational-linkages; GovInfo. USA v. Bruce-Umbaugh, 5:19-cr-00130 (N.D. Tex.). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-txnd-5_19-cr-00130/USCOURTS-txnd-5_19-cr-00130-0 +[^16]: CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^17]: U.S. Department of State. "Designation of Russian Imperial Movement and its Leaders as Global Terrorists." April 7, 2020. https://2017-2021.state.gov/the-u-s-department-of-states-designation-of-the-russian-imperial-movement-and-its-leaders-as-global-terrorists/index.html; Soufan Center. "Russia's Links to Neo-Nazi Terrorist Groups Demonstrates its Hybrid Warfare Toolkit." May 8, 2025. https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2025-may-8/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Blood and Honour.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Blood and Honour.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9878c4cf --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Blood and Honour.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - UK + - Music + - BloodAndHonour + - CombatEighteen + - WhitePower +start: 1987 +location: "United Kingdom" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Blood and Honour is a neo-Nazi music promotion and distribution network founded by Ian Stuart Donaldson and Nicky Crane in July 1987, whose infrastructure was absorbed by Combat 18 after Donaldson's death in 1993 and which provided the financial base and transnational connections that sustained C18's activities through the mid-1990s." +--- + +[[Blood and Honour]] (B&H) is a neo-Nazi music promotion and distribution network founded in the [[United Kingdom]] in July 1987 by [[Ian Stuart Donaldson]], frontman of the neo-Nazi band [[Skrewdriver]], and [[Nicky Crane]]. It emerged from a dispute with the [[National Front]]'s [[White Noise Club]], the previous vehicle for right-wing extremist music in Britain, over Donaldson's objection that White Noise Club revenue was being diverted to NF political campaigns rather than retained by the music scene. Blood and Honour grew into the primary global network for white-power music distribution and neo-Nazi concert promotion, spanning multiple countries by the early 1990s. After Donaldson's death in September 1993, [[Combat 18]] absorbed control of the network, using its revenue and transnational infrastructure to sustain C18's paramilitary activities.[^1] + +### Founding and Split from White Noise Club + +Donaldson had operated under the [[White Noise Club]] since the early 1980s when it was created as a subsidiary of the National Front to manage [[Rock Against Communism]] events and the White Noise Records label. Tensions developed by 1987 over revenue allocation and control. Donaldson's Skrewdriver officially split from White Noise Club in May 1987, and several affiliated bands followed. Blood and Honour was launched as an independent alternative in July 1987, with the first issue of its namesake magazine. Founding associated bands included [[No Remorse]], [[Brutal Attack]], [[Sudden Impact]], and [[Squadron]].[^2] + +### Nicky Crane + +[[Nicky Crane]] (born 21 May 1958, died 7 December 1993) was B&H's co-founder and served as a key organiser. He had joined the [[British Movement]] in the late 1970s and was one of the most physically imposing figures in the British neo-Nazi scene, appearing on album covers and acting as a concert security figure. A photograph of Crane giving a Nazi salute became widely circulated as an emblem of the British neo-Nazi scene. In July 1992, he came out as gay in a segment of Channel 4's *Out* programme, a disclosure that immediately led to his repudiation by Donaldson and the broader neo-Nazi community. Donaldson, quoted at the time, stated: "I feel more betrayed by him than anybody else." Crane died from an AIDS-related illness on 7 December 1993, the same year as Donaldson's death, aged 36.[^3] + +### Combat 18 Takeover + +Following Donaldson's death in a road traffic accident in September 1993, [[Charlie Sargent]] and [[Combat 18]] moved to take control of Blood and Honour and its associated record label [[ISD Records]]. The music distribution network provided C18 with a substantial income stream and a transnational organisational infrastructure connecting British neo-Nazis to counterparts in Germany, Scandinavia, and North America. [[Blood and Honour Scandinavia]], which had developed as a semi-autonomous regional affiliate, was involved in the 1997 letter-bomb campaign connected to C18 activity.[^4] + +Control of Blood and Honour was one of the central disputes in the feud between Sargent and [[Wilf Browning]] that ended in the murder of [[Christopher Castle]] in 1997. The financial value of the music business made it worth fighting over in ways that purely ideological disputes might not have been. + +### Current Status + +Blood and Honour continues to operate internationally as a neo-Nazi network, though its UK presence has been disrupted by law enforcement actions. The organisation has been banned in Germany, Russia, Spain, and several other European countries. In the United Kingdom, it has not been proscribed, though individual members have faced charges under existing laws. B&H's transnational reach makes it a continuing conduit for the distribution of extremist material connecting British and continental European neo-Nazi scenes.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Counter Extremism Project. "Blood and Honour." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/blood-honour-bh; HOPE not hate. "Case file: Blood and Honour." https://hopenothate.org.uk/case-files-blood-and-honour/ +[^2]: Channel 4 News. "Ian Stuart Donaldson and a legacy of hate." https://www.channel4.com/news/ian-stuart-donaldson-a-legacy-of-hate +[^3]: Nicky Crane. Anti-Fascist Archive. "Nicky Crane: The secret double life of a gay neo-Nazi." https://antifascistarchive.net/2013/12/09/nicky-crane-the-secret-double-life-of-a-gay-neo-nazi/ +[^4]: Lowles, Nick. *White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18.* Milo Books, 2001. +[^5]: Southern Poverty Law Center. "Blood and Honour." https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/blood-honour/; Henry Jackson Society. "Blood and Honour." https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/BLOOD-AND-HNOUR.pdf diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/CVLT.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/CVLT.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7650d6f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/CVLT.md @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - CVLT + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - Sextortion + - 764Predecessor + - France + - OrderOfNineAngles +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "CVLT was a Discord-based child exploitation network founded in 2019 by Rohan Rane that pioneered the sextortion-to-self-harm coercion model later replicated by the 764 network, making it 764's direct organizational predecessor." +start: 2019 +end: 2022 +location: "Antibes, France" +--- + +[[CVLT]] was a [[Discord]]-based child exploitation network founded in 2019 by [[Rohan Rane]], a then-23-year-old Indian national attending a top business school in [[Antibes, France]]. CVLT developed and deployed the sextortion-to-self-harm coercion model that [[Bradley Chance Cadenhead]] subsequently adapted when founding the [[764 Network|764]] network in 2020-2021. CVLT is documented by researchers as the direct organizational predecessor of 764, connected to it through a single contact between Cadenhead and a CVLT member in a [[Minecraft]] server.[^1] + +### Founding and Methods + +Rane founded CVLT in 2019. Beginning with a small community of a few hundred members, he recruited underage girls from around the world into a Discord community, obtained compromising sexual photographs and videos from them through social engineering, and then used that material as leverage to blackmail victims into escalating acts of self-harm, up to and including suicidal behavior. The acts were recorded on webcam and broadcast live within the CVLT Discord server, functioning both as content and as internal currency establishing Rane's status and the network's cohesion.[^1] + +The indictment (United States v. Rane et al., [[United States v. Rane et al. (2-25-cr-00040)|2:25-cr-00040]]) refers to the platform as "Platform D," understood to be Discord. Coercion tactics documented in DOJ filings and press releases included compelling victims to cut themselves, drink their own urine, punch themselves, use racial slurs against themselves, and carve CVLT members' names into their skin with razor blades. The terminal escalation was pressuring victims to kill themselves on a video livestream. The group targeted vulnerable girls, often those with a history of mental health struggles or prior sexual abuse, exposing them first to neo-Nazi and violent extremist content to normalize degradation before direct coercion began.[^2] + +CVLT operated from at least 2019 to 2022. Federal prosecutors charged that Rane, [[Collin Walker]], and [[Kaleb Merritt]] acted as leaders and administrators, hosting and running CVLT servers, controlling membership and access, and directing victims during the creation of extortion videos. [[Clint Borge]] participated as a member and directed and instructed victims during coercion sessions. Two unnamed minor co-conspirators are referenced in the indictment, one of whom was also a victim.[^3] + +Early CVLT leaders including Walker and Merritt adopted [[Order of Nine Angles|O9A]]-influenced online aliases: Walker used "WRATH/O9A.WRATH" and Merritt used "eTerror/o9a.evil," signaling the group's integration of neo-Nazi occultism alongside nihilism and pedophilia as core ideological principles.[^4] + +### Transmission to 764 and Downstream Networks + +Cadenhead, a 15-year-old school dropout in [[Stephenville, Texas]], encountered a CVLT member in a Minecraft server and through that conversation absorbed CVLT's methods. Cadenhead then founded 764 in 2020-2021, naming it after local ZIP codes 76401/76402 and using Discord as his initial platform. The CVLT-to-764 transmission through Minecraft is the documented origin event of 764 as a distinct network.[^1] + +Following Cadenhead's 2021 arrest and the 2025 federal prosecution of CVLT's leadership, a splinter group called [[CVLTIST]] emerged as a named downstream entity within [[The Com]] ecosystem. CVLT's victim count and operational methods were explicitly cited by [[NCITE]] (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha) alongside CVLT's contemporaneous precursor [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg) in documenting 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes across the three connected networks as of December 2025.[^5] + +### French Investigation and Rane's Arrest + +An [[FBI]] agent became aware of CVLT in spring 2020 while investigating a 15-year-old American girl who had unsuccessfully attempted suicide under coercion. The FBI passed findings to [[Police Nationale]] (France), which initiated a judicial investigation on October 6, 2020 through the [[OCRVP]] (Office Central pour la Répression des Violences aux Personnes). Rane was arrested in France on April 6, 2021, and has been in French custody since 2022. In France he faces charges of "acts of torture and barbarity," "corruption of minors in an organized gang," and "extortion in an organized gang." As of May 2026 he remains in French custody pending extradition to the United States.[^3] + +### Federal Prosecution (United States v. Rane, 2:25-cr-00040) + +The federal investigation was conducted by [[Homeland Security Investigations]] (HSI) Los Angeles, HSI Cherry Hill (New Jersey), and HSI Honolulu, in collaboration with the [[Los Angeles Police Department]], [[San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office]], [[Henry County Sheriff's Office]] (Virginia), [[Iowa State University Police Department]] (ISUPD), and Police Nationale (France).[^3] + +The Iowa State link was critical. In November 2020, an Iowa State University freshman reported to ISUPD that she was being blackmailed with images taken when she was 16. ISUPD Officer [[Kami Feld]] conducted the investigation, issuing subpoenas to electronic service providers including Google, PayPal, Venmo, Instagram, and Facebook. When the subpoenas returned IP activity from Hawaii, Oregon, and California, and revealed a digital wallet address at 4 Goldfield Road in Honolulu, Feld cross-referenced the address and identified it as the residence of Clint Borge, the fourth core leader, whose Discord alias "Whoops" had been known to federal investigators without a real-world identity.[^6] + +The grand jury returned the indictment on January 17, 2025, in the [[Central District of California]]. The indictment was unsealed approximately February 4-5, 2025. All four defendants were charged in a single count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]], carrying a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life imprisonment. The enterprise theory required proof that the defendants (1) violated specified child exploitation statutes, (2) across three or more separate incidents, (3) involving more than one victim, (4) in concert with three or more other persons. The four named defendants and two unnamed minor co-conspirators together constituted the enterprise.[^3] + +Walker and Borge were physically arrested in New Jersey and Hawaii respectively when the indictment was unsealed. Merritt was already incarcerated in Virginia. Rane remained in French custody pending extradition.[^3] + +### Plea Record + +Collin Walker pleaded guilty in October 2025. Clint Borge pleaded guilty in December 2025. Kaleb Merritt pleaded guilty on March 26, 2026. All three pleaded to one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g). Judge [[Hernan D. Vera]] of the Central District of California scheduled all three sentencing hearings: Walker for January 29, 2026; Borge for March 12, 2026; Merritt for January 7, 2027. Walker and Borge sentencing outcomes had not been publicly announced by DOJ as of May 2026 (their hearings having preceded the Merritt plea). Rohan Rane, as of May 2026, remains in French custody awaiting extradition and has not entered a US plea.[^7] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ARC Research. "CVLT Historical Threat Assessment of the Precursor to 764." https://www.accresearch.org/shortanalysis/svjdmt1twn9ccz0c4uxnbqrauywwcn; Marc-Andre Argentino. "CVLT Historical Threat Assessment of the Precursor to 764." https://www.maargentino.com/cvlt-historical-threat-assessment-of-the-precursor-to-764/ +[^2]: Rolling Stone. "Violent Online Group CVLT Coerced Kids to Self-Harm, DOJ Says." February 2025. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/violent-online-group-cvlt-indicted-1235258786/ +[^3]: HSI. "HSI Los Angeles, Cherry Hill, and Honolulu special agents arrest members of online neo-Nazi group on child exploitation enterprise charges." ICE.gov, February 2025. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-los-angeles-cherry-hill-and-honolulu-special-agents-arrest-members-online-neo; U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Four Members of Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Minors Charged with Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." February 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-members-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-minors-charged-producing-child-sexual-abuse +[^4]: Medium/chokingonsignal. "Com, Extortion Groups, and the Order of Nine Angles." https://chokingonsignal.medium.com/com-extortion-groups-and-the-order-of-nine-angles-9fe1f8419526; ADL "764" backgrounder. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764 +[^5]: NCITE. "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges." University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php +[^6]: Iowa State Daily. "How ISUPD uncovered a Neo-Nazi sexual predator ring." 2025. https://iowastatedaily.com/335620/news/how-the-isupd-uncovered-a-neo-nazi-sexual-predator-ring/; Iowa State University News Service. "A call for help leads ISU Police to sexual predator, international investigation." February 12, 2025. https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2025/02/12/isu-police-exploitation +[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Man Pleads Guilty to Participating in Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Children into Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." March 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-participating-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-children-producing-child; United States v. Rane et al., 2:25-cr-00040 (C.D. Cal.), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69613728/united-states-v-rane/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Combat 18.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Combat 18.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2931ff8f --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Combat 18.md @@ -0,0 +1,72 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - UK + - TerroristOrganization + - Proscribed + - CombatEighteen + - BloodAndHonour + - UDA + - SpecialBranch +start: 1992 +end: 1998 +location: "United Kingdom" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Combat 18 was a British neo-Nazi paramilitary organisation founded in 1992 as a BNP stewarding group, responsible for numerous violent attacks and linked to international neo-Nazi networks and loyalist paramilitaries, proscribed by the UK Home Office in February 2020 under S.I. 2020/200." +--- + +[[Combat 18]] (C18) was a British neo-Nazi paramilitary organisation founded in early 1992 by [[Charlie Sargent]] and [[Wilf Browning]], initially as a stewarding group for the [[British National Party]] to protect its events from anti-fascist counter-demonstrators. The name is a numerical reference to the initials of [[Adolf Hitler]] (A=1, H=8). C18 quickly developed an independent identity as an organisation committed to open violence rather than electoral politics, split from the BNP in 1993, and maintained documented connections to the [[Ulster Defence Association]] and international neo-Nazi networks throughout the mid-1990s. Its core leadership was destroyed by an internal feud that resulted in the murder of [[Christopher Castle]] in 1997 and the life imprisonment of Sargent and his associate [[Martin Cross]] in January 1998. The organisation was proscribed by the UK Home Office under the [[Terrorism Act 2000]] (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2020, S.I. 2020/200, which came into force in February 2020.[^1] + +### Founding and BNP Split + +The BNP formed C18 in 1992 primarily to provide muscle against [[Anti-Fascist Action]] and other left-wing counter-demonstration groups. Charlie Sargent, who had previously been the flatmate of [[Blood and Honour]] founder [[Ian Stuart Donaldson]], was a founding figure. Sargent rejected the BNP's electoral strategy as ineffective and in 1993 broke decisively from the party, transforming C18 into an autonomous paramilitary grouping. Following Donaldson's death in a car crash in September 1993, C18 took control of [[Blood and Honour]], the neo-Nazi music promotion network Donaldson had founded in 1987, along with its associated label [[ISD Records]]. The music business generated revenue that funded C18's activities.[^2] + +### Blood and Honour + +[[Blood and Honour]] was founded by Ian Stuart Donaldson and [[Nicky Crane]] in July 1987 as a neo-Nazi music promotion and distribution network, emerging from a split with the [[National Front]]'s [[White Noise Club]]. Donaldson, frontman of the band [[Skrewdriver]], had co-operated with the White Noise Club until 1987, when disputes over revenue allocation led to a break. Blood and Honour launched with its first magazine issue in July 1987 and became the primary vehicle for distributing white-power music across Europe. After Donaldson's 1993 death and Crane's death from an AIDS-related illness in December 1993, C18 absorbed the network. Blood and Honour subsequently served as the economic infrastructure for C18's activities and as a transnational distribution channel linking British neo-Nazis to continental European counterparts.[^3] + +### David Myatt's Role + +[[David Myatt]], who would later found the [[National Socialist Movement (UK, 1997)]] and is attributed by most scholars as the founder of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] under the pseudonym [[Anton Long]], was active in C18's ideological circles in the early 1990s. The [[Observer]] newspaper described him as the "ideological heavyweight" behind Combat 18. [[Searchlight Magazine]] documented his involvement, describing his return to the neo-Nazi scene in the early 1990s as a "harder and more determined man." [[Nick Lowles]] characterises him in *White Riot* as "one of Britain's foremost post-war national socialist thinkers."[^4] + +Myatt's specific relationship to C18's formal structure is ambiguous in the published record. He is consistently associated with its ideological direction rather than its operational violence. After [[Charlie Sargent]]'s conviction in January 1998, one account states Myatt "took over the leadership of Combat 18," though by this point the organisation had effectively fractured. Myatt had resigned as NSM leader in March 1998 and converted to Islam in September 1998, so any such leadership role would have been brief. C18 was effectively defunct as a coherent organisation by then.[^4] + +### UDA Connection and Loyalist Links + +C18 maintained close ties to the [[Ulster Defence Association]] on the Northern Ireland mainland. [[Johnny Adair]], the UDA's Lower Shankill Road commander, regularly attended C18 events in England. C18 and the London UDA were, according to Statewatch, "very close at one point," with C18 "supplying the manpower to counter demonstrations by Irish republican supporters." C18 also reportedly helped the UDA with weapons-related logistics from the mainland. This UDA connection was one of the specific intelligence subjects that [[Charlie Sargent]] is alleged to have been reporting to [[Special Branch]] on.[^5] + +### The Danish Letter-Bomb Campaign + +In 1997, C18 organised a campaign in which parcel bombs were sent from Denmark to various anti-fascist activists and celebrities in the United Kingdom. The campaign linked C18 to continental neo-Nazi networks including elements connected to [[Blood and Honour Scandinavia]]. During the planning of this campaign, C18's core leadership deliberately withheld an updated target list from Sargent because they suspected him of leaking information to the police. An outdated version of the target list subsequently appeared in the press, and an undercover police officer who had infiltrated C18 confirmed to ITV's [[World in Action]] that the names could only have come from Sargent.[^5] + +### The Internal Feud and Collapse + +The mutual suspicion between the Sargent and Browning factions escalated through 1996 and 1997 around disputes over control of Blood and Honour's music revenues and accusations of police informing. In October 1997, [[Christopher Castle]], a Blood and Honour supporter acting as an intermediary between the two factions, visited Sargent's home. [[Martin Cross]] stabbed Castle to death with a nine-inch knife. Charlie Sargent was convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court in January 1998 of Castle's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Cross was sentenced to life imprisonment for carrying out the stabbing.[^6] + +The conviction destroyed C18 as an operative organisation. Sargent's brother [[Steve Sargent]] and [[David Myatt]] had already split away in June 1997 to found the [[National Socialist Movement (UK, 1997)]]. The remaining C18 elements, led by Browning, continued in a diminished form through the late 1990s but had no significant public presence thereafter. + +### State Monitoring and the Darren Wells Question + +A key question about C18's history is the extent of state infiltration. The documented confirmed state asset is [[Darren Wells]] (alias McKenzie), who co-authored the C18 booklet with Browning and acknowledged in 2002 that he had been working as a Searchlight/Special Branch informant, handled through Nick Lowles. Wells was described by Lowles as "one of the most important moles Searchlight has ever run."[^4] The C18 booklet he co-authored was one of the primary C18 recruitment and propaganda documents. + +[[Larry O'Hara]] of [[Notes From The Borderland]] argues that Wells's confirmed presence as an informant is the key to understanding C18's self-destruction: by positioning himself close to Browning while allowing Browning to believe Sargent was the informant, Wells created the conditions of mutual suspicion that produced the Castle murder. On this reading, the documented state intervention in C18 operated through a genuine infiltration asset (Wells) who generated a COINTELPRO-style disruption that tore the organisation apart from within, without requiring any direct handling of Sargent himself.[^4] + +Whether Sargent himself was also a police informant, as alleged by the World in Action documentary and confirmed by no official source, remains unresolved. The allegation is widely cited but unproven. + +### Proscription + +The UK Home Office proscribed Combat 18 under The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2020, S.I. 2020/200. This came into force in February 2020, more than 22 years after C18's effective dissolution through the Sargent conviction. Germany had banned C18 in January 2020; Canada had listed it as a terrorist entity in June 2019. The UK proscription is legally significant because it creates membership offences under Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for anyone knowingly belonging to or professing membership of C18, and dissemination offences for distributing C18 material.[^1] + +The proscription of Combat 18 is notable in the context of O9A: the organisation in which [[David Myatt]] served as ideological figure was banned in 2020, while O9A, attributed to Myatt as its founder, has not been proscribed as of mid-2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2020, S.I. 2020/200. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/200/contents/made; Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations, GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2 +[^2]: Lowles, Nick. *White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18.* Milo Books, 2001. +[^3]: Counter Extremism Project. "Blood and Honour." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/blood-honour-bh; Channel 4 News. "Ian Stuart Donaldson and a legacy of hate." https://www.channel4.com/news/ian-stuart-donaldson-a-legacy-of-hate +[^4]: Notes From The Borderland (Larry O'Hara). "Combat 18 and MI5: Some Background Notes." https://borderland.co.uk/combat-18-mi5-some-background-notes/; Lowles, *White Riot.* +[^5]: Statewatch. "UK: C18 leader was police informer," 1998. https://www.statewatch.org/statewatch-database/uk-c18-leader-was-police-informer/; Statewatch. "UK: Far right-loyalist links strengthened." https://www.statewatch.org/statewatch-database/uk-far-right-loyalist-links-strengthened/ +[^6]: Statewatch. "UK: C18 leaders get 'life' for murder," 1998. https://www.statewatch.org/statewatch-database/uk-c18-leaders-get-life-for-murder/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Drakon Covenant.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Drakon Covenant.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1a6b8860 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Drakon Covenant.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - O9A + - NeoNazi + - UK + - Yorkshire + - Nexion + - Occultism + - Satanism + - SiegeCulture +location: "Horsforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "The Drakon Covenant is an Order of Nine Angles nexion based in Yorkshire, England, led by Ryan Fleming under the pseudonym A.A. Morain, which maintained documented ties to the American nexion Tempel ov Blood and served as the principal channel of O9A ideology into National Action during 2015 to 2017." +--- + +The Drakon Covenant is an [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) nexion (autonomous cell) based in [[Horsforth]], Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was led by [[Ryan Fleming]], a regional organiser for [[National Action]]'s Yorkshire branch, operating under the O9A pseudonym "A.A. Morain." The Drakon Covenant is the principal documented mechanism through which O9A ideology entered National Action's internal culture during the period 2015 to 2017, and it maintained direct editorial connections with the American O9A nexion [[Tempel ov Blood]] (ToB). + +### Leadership and Pseudonymous Identity + +Fleming operated the Drakon Covenant under the pen name "A.A. Morain," a pseudonym confirmed by journalist [[Jake Hanrahan]] on 11 February 2021 and by [[HOPE not hate]]'s "Order of Nine Angles: An Incubator of Terrorism" chapter in the *State of Hate 2020* report.[^1] Under this name Fleming authored at least two published O9A texts distributed within the O9A publishing ecosystem: + +*Scithain: Vampyric Witchcraft of the Drakon Covenant*: a text positioned within the O9A doctrinal tradition on the [[Acausal realm]] and transgressive spiritual practice, with specific focus on vampyric initiation rites framed as [[Left-Hand Path]] occultism. + +*Codex Aristarchus*: a second published text, the foreword of which was written by a figure identified as "Czar Azag-kala" of Tempel ov Blood, establishing a documented editorial relationship between the Yorkshire and American O9A formations.[^2] + +### Iron March and International Connections + +Fleming was an active poster on the [[Iron March]] neo-fascist web forum, where he promoted O9A doctrine and recruited for the Drakon Covenant. His Iron March presence connected the nexion to other O9A-affiliated formations internationally. The [[Middlebury Institute of International Studies]] Counter Terrorism and Extremism Center (CTEC) documented the Drakon Covenant-Tempel ov Blood connection in its "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: National Action" profile, noting the foreword relationship in *Codex Aristarchus* as evidence of a direct transatlantic O9A editorial network.[^2] + +### National Action Penetration + +The Drakon Covenant operated simultaneously with Fleming's role as Yorkshire regional organiser for National Action, allowing O9A doctrine to be introduced to National Action members through internal channels rather than external recruitment. Police searches of National Action members' properties during the prosecution waves of 2018 to 2020 recovered materials bearing O9A symbols, attributed by investigators and journalists to Fleming's influence.[^3] The precise number of National Action members who were also Drakon Covenant participants has not been established in any public court document. + +O9A doctrine's [[Insight Roles]] framework, first set out in "Insight Roles: A Guide" (1989, collected in *[[Hostia]]: Secret Teachings of the O.N.A.*, Vol. I, 1992), frames infiltration of political organizations, law enforcement, and armed forces as spiritually meritorious initiatory practice. The presence of O9A texts and symbols in searches of National Action members' homes is consistent with Drakon Covenant recruitment into National Action as an insight-role activity, but this has not been established as the operative mechanism in any published court record. + +### Law Enforcement Status + +No UK law enforcement press release, charging document, or court judgment has named the Drakon Covenant as a formal entity under investigation or prosecution as of mid-2026. All documentation of the nexion is secondary, derived from journalistic identification, anti-fascist research, and Fleming's own published works. The Drakon Covenant has not been proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, and no application to designate it as an alias of O9A under proscription review has been publicly announced. + +Fleming himself has not been charged with terrorism offences in connection with his National Action organising or Drakon Covenant leadership. His criminal record consists of three child sexual abuse convictions: 2012 (false imprisonment, torture, and sexual abuse of a boy), 2017 (rape of a 14-year-old girl, three-year sentence), and February 2021 (breach of a sexual harm prevention order by messaging teenagers, six months). The full record is documented in the [[Ryan Fleming]] vault entry. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan). "Fleming runs a Yorkshire based cell (or nexion as they call it) of the O9A. It's called the Drakon Covenant. Under the nom de guerre 'AA Morain', Fleming has written some mental books about O9A vampyrism." 11 February 2021. https://x.com/Jake_Hanrahan/status/1360317804600324096; HOPE not hate. "Order of Nine Angles: An Incubator of Terrorism." *State of Hate 2020.* https://hopenothate.org.uk/chapter/order-of-nine-angles-an-incubator-of-terrorism/ + +[^2]: Middlebury Institute CTEC. "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: National Action." https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-5 + +[^3]: Middlebury Institute CTEC. "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: National Action." (Citing O9A symbol recoveries in National Action searches.) https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-5 diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Fascist Forge.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Fascist Forge.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..44ad3d23 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Fascist Forge.md @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - Forum + - Accelerationism + - IronMarch + - SiegeCulture + - USA +start: 2018 +end: 2020 +location: "Online" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Fascist Forge was a neo-Nazi web forum launched in April 2018 as an explicit Iron March successor, reaching over 1,500 users before its hosting registrar took it offline in February 2020." +--- + +[[Fascist Forge]] was a neo-Nazi web forum launched in April 2018 by a user operating under the name "Mathias," explicitly framed as a replacement for the defunct [[Iron March]] and intended to "continue where they left off." It was the most prominent immediate successor platform for the international neo-fascist accelerationist community that had organized on Iron March between 2011 and 2017. + +### Founding and Structure + +Fascist Forge replicated several of Iron March's distinctive operational features, most importantly its vetting process. Prospective members were required to submit ideological essays as a condition of full forum access, a mechanism designed to filter out casual observers, law enforcement monitors, and individuals deemed insufficiently committed to neo-Nazi ideology. This essay requirement had been one of Iron March's distinguishing features and was credited by researchers with maintaining the forum's relatively high commitment level relative to its small size. + +The founder "Mathias" framed the platform's purpose explicitly in a founding note, positioning it as an organizational continuation rather than a fresh start. Former Iron March members migrated to Fascist Forge, and the forum drew on the same international community of users who had built organizations on Iron March.[^1] + +### Growth and Closure + +By February 2020, Fascist Forge had accumulated more than 1,500 registered accounts, exceeding [[Iron March]]'s peak registered user count of 1,207 in under two years of operation. The forum's hosting registrar took the platform offline in February 2020, and no clear successor forum emerged immediately. Activity dispersed into encrypted messaging applications, [[Telegram]] channels, and alternative platforms that did not offer the persistent, searchable community structure that Iron March and Fascist Forge had provided.[^2] + +The [[ADL]] and [[GNET]] (Global Network on Extremism and Technology) documented Fascist Forge's operation. The [[Counter Extremism Project]] noted that the absence of a strong consolidated successor to Fascist Forge following its takedown diffused rather than eliminated the network, as former members spread across multiple decentralized communication channels. A later forum called "Fash Front" emerged in 2025 and positioned itself as the latest in the Iron March lineage.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ADL. "Fascist Forge: A New Forum for Hate." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/fascist-forge-new-forum-hate; GNET. "From Iron March to Fascist Forge: How the Global Far Right Makes Use of Social Networking." December 31, 2019. https://gnet-research.org/2019/12/31/from-iron-march-to-fascist-forge-how-the-global-far-right-makes-use-of-social-networking/ +[^2]: Vice. "Fascist Forge, the Online Neo-Nazi Recruitment Forum, Is Down." February 2020. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/43zn8j/fascist-forge-the-online-neo-nazi-recruitment-forum-is-down; Counter Extremism Project. "Will a Fascist Forge Successor Emerge?" https://www.counterextremism.com/blog/will-fascist-forge-successor-emerge diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/FashFront.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/FashFront.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..14f6b0b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/FashFront.md @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - Online + - Forum + - AtomwaffenDivision + - IronMarch + - Transnational +summary: "FashFront is an accelerationist neo-Nazi web forum that emerged in mid-2025 positioning itself as the successor to Iron March and Fascist Forge, with 941 registered users as of late 2025 and documented connections to former Atomwaffen Division and Terrorgram Collective members." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2025 +location: "Online (global)" +--- + +FashFront is an accelerationist neo-Nazi web forum that emerged in mid-2025, positioning itself explicitly as the ideological and organizational successor to [[Iron March]] (2011-2017) and [[Fascist Forge]] (2018-2020). The forum operates at the domain fashfront.st (and a secondary domain fashfront.org), runs a companion [[Telegram]] channel under the handle @FashFrontSt, and distributes video content through [[Odysee]], a platform that permits extremist material that [[YouTube]] removes. The [[Global Project Against Hate and Extremism]] (GPAHE) published the primary research report on the forum in 2025, identifying 941 registered users, a transnational membership spanning the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Greece, and several South American countries, and documentary connections to former members of [[Atomwaffen Division]] and the [[Terrorgram Collective]].[^1] + +### Origins and Ideology + +The forum was founded by an administrator using the alias "Aspien," with a second administrator known as "Kriegstreiber" (also referred to as "Krieg"). The [[GPAHE]] described its design as a "stark black layout" with white text blocks and stylized "FF" iconography, deliberately echoing Iron March's aesthetic. The forum presents itself as a "home for developing the philosophy of modern neo-Nazism" and a "place of learning" for individuals interested in [[Siege Culture]] and militant accelerationism. + +The ideological lineage it claims is direct: Iron March, then [[Fascist Forge]], then [[Terrorgram Collective]], then FashFront. Content on the forum includes glorification of white supremacist mass killers framed as "saints" (a practice formalized by the Terrorgram Collective), calls for race war, promotion of societal collapse as prerequisite for a fascist ethnostate, and distribution of [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]* as foundational text. AWD propaganda videos circulate on the forum's Odysee channel, and forum threads discuss [[Atomwaffen Division]] history in detail.[^1] + +### User Base and Membership + +As of late 2025, FashFront had 941 registered users, placing it significantly below Iron March's 1,887 registered users at its 2017 closure, but above [[Fascist Forge]]'s documented active membership. Multiple users identified themselves in introduction posts as high school-age. Others identified as former Iron March members; in 2025, [[Decoherence Media]], an anti-fascist research outlet, compiled an archive of Iron March data through its [[FashyLeaks]] database (which covers both Iron March and [[Rope Culture]] datasets), surfacing previously unidentified Iron March users and enabling cross-referencing with FashFront membership.[^1] + +Documented organizational users of the forum include the [[H.I.V.E. Syndicate]] (Honor, Identity, Virtue and Endurance Syndicate), a U.S. and Canadian accelerationist street-organizing group that uses FashFront to publish updates and coordinate local meetups. H.I.V.E. explicitly models its tactics on [[NSC-131]] in New England, seeking street presence alongside online activity. H.I.V.E. has posted that it considers FashFront "the future" of accelerationist organizing infrastructure, preferring the forum to Telegram for internal coordination.[^1] + +[[Ryan Hatfield]] (alias "Ryan Arthur"), a Colorado Springs man identified as a former Atomwaffen Division cell leader and the operator of the [[American Futurist]] blog, which had been the primary public-facing outlet of [[National Socialist Resistance Front]], maintains an active writing thread on FashFront as of 2025. The [[NSRF]] formally dissolved on November 8, 2024, and Hatfield's continued activity on FashFront represents a documented line of continuity between AWD's fourth organizational iteration and the forum ecosystem.[^1][^2] + +### Platform Architecture + +Outside the primary forum, FashFront operates: + +- A Telegram channel (@FashFrontSt) for distribution and community announcements +- An Odysee channel hosting AWD propaganda videos, forum audio productions, and an interview series called "The Washington Report" +- An X (formerly Twitter) account (suspended as of GPAHE reporting) +- A BitChute channel + +The "Washington Report" podcast, hosted on the forum's Odysee channel, featured a forum member interviewing founding administrators Aspien and Krieg about the forum's purpose and structure (episode TWR 28). The podcast episode was also posted as a thread on fashfront.st.[^1] + +### Leadership Change: November 2025 + +On November 12, 2025, founding administrator Aspien posted a "Transfer of Ownership" announcement on the forum, stating that "due to certain things coming to light" he was transferring all control of the forum, including social media accounts, email accounts, and servers, to a new administrator using the alias "John Smith." The announcement described the transfer as "peaceful" and intended "to protect the future of the forum." The post outlined plans for changes to moderation standards, content quality requirements, and outreach to additional organizations. The specific circumstances that prompted Aspien's departure were not publicly clarified.[^3] + +### Post-Terrorgram Positioning + +The [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] (ISD) described the Terrorgram Collective as "effectively defunct" as an organized structure by late 2024, following the arrests of [[Dallas Humber]], [[Matthew Robert Allison]], and [[Matthew Althorpe]]. FashFront emerged in the same period and is positioned, in GPAHE's framing, as filling the organizational vacuum that Terrorgram's collapse created in the Iron March succession lineage. + +Whereas Terrorgram operated primarily through Telegram channels, FashFront functions as a persistent web forum, combining Terrorgram's propaganda aesthetics with Iron March's forum-style networking model. The [[ADL]] assessed in 2025 that "if this growth continues, FashFront could become an important digital space for the movement." No law enforcement action against FashFront or any of its identified administrators has been publicly announced as of May 2026.[^1][^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "New Neo-Nazi Web Forum 'Fash Front' Reinvigorating Violent Accelerationist Movement." 2025. https://globalextremism.org/post/fash-front/ +[^2]: Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists. "Ryan Hatfield aka 'Ryan Arthur': Atomwaffen Division / American Futurist." November 14, 2023. https://cospringsantifa.noblogs.org/post/2023/11/14/ryan-hatfield-atomwaffen-division-colorado/ +[^3]: FashFront forum. "Transfer of Ownership," thread 1835, November 12, 2025. https://fashfront.st/threads/transfer-of-ownership.1835/ +[^4]: ADL. "Extremely Newsletter." 2025. https://www.adl.org/resources/article/extremely-newsletter diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Feuerkrieg Division.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Feuerkrieg Division.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..05962bef --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Feuerkrieg Division.md @@ -0,0 +1,151 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - AtomwaffenDivision + - International + - Estonia + - SiegeCulture + - ParamilitaryNetwork + - TerroristOrganization +start: 2018 +end: 2020 +location: "Kuressaare, Saaremaa, Estonia (online, international)" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Feuerkrieg Division is a transnational neo-Nazi accelerationist network founded in October 2018 in Estonia, proscribed as a terrorist organization in the UK, Australia, and Canada, and responsible for documented prosecutions in at least eight countries before and after its formal dissolution in February 2020." +--- + +[[Feuerkrieg Division]] (FKD) is a transnational neo-Nazi accelerationist organization founded in October 2018 in [[Estonia]] by an individual identified in public reporting only as "Commander," who was 13 years old at the time his identity was confirmed by Estonian authorities in January 2020. FKD operated as an affiliate of [[Atomwaffen Division]] while maintaining organizational independence, reaching peak membership of between 30 and 80 individuals across more than 12 countries at its height. Estonian authorities intervened in January 2020 and the organization announced its dissolution in February 2020, but it resurfaced on [[Telegram]] in May 2021. Three FKD members were convicted by an Estonian court in January 2025 for membership in and recruitment for a terrorist organization.[^1] + +### Founding Geography and Co-Founders + +FKD's founding leadership was concentrated on the Estonian island of [[Saaremaa]], specifically the town of [[Kuressaare]], where several early members reportedly resided. The organization was co-founded by two individuals: the Estonian teenager known publicly only as "Commander" (alias "Commander FKD" and "Kriegsherr," German for "Warlord") and a Dutch national known only as "Wolfram." The two connected on a Dutch nationalist [[Discord]] server in 2018, where they networked with other neo-Nazis before launching FKD in October 2018.[^4] + +"Wolfram" served as one of FKD's original public spokespeople and sought to build a worldwide national socialist organization whose members would engage in real-world violence. By June 2019 he had departed the organization under circumstances that were not publicly clarified.[^2] + +FKD was structured as a decentralized franchise: members in different countries operated semi-autonomously under the FKD name and ideological framework. FKD's documented membership included individuals in Estonia, the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Latvia, and Russia. The network maintained contact with AWD members and shared operational concepts.[^2] + +### AWD Relationship and Merger Offer + +FKD was founded and operated as part of the broader "skull mask" neo-fascist network described in the [[CTC West Point]] analysis of the [[Iron March]] ecosystem. It shared AWD's foundational ideology (James Mason's [[Siege]], leaderless resistance, lone-wolf violence as acceleration catalyst) and maintained communications with AWD chapters and members. + +AWD leadership made a documented offer to merge FKD into AWD's organizational structure. Commander rejected the offer explicitly, prioritizing FKD's organizational independence. Internal FKD communications revealed feelings of competition and rivalry with AWD rather than subordination. The relationship was characterized as one of ideological affiliation and shared personnel rather than command hierarchy.[^5] + +Commander also maintained direct communications with the leader of [[The Base]] (Rinaldo Nazzaro) and with unnamed American AWD members, consistent with FKD's position as a node in the "skull mask" neo-fascist international rather than a franchise unit.[^6] + +### Estonian Intervention and Dissolution + +In January 2020, the [[Estonian Internal Security Service]] (KAPO) identified "Commander" and intervened, contacting his parents. Because he was 13 years old at the time of the identification (below Estonia's minimum criminal liability age of 14), Estonian law precluded criminal prosecution; KAPO's actions addressed his activities through non-criminal means. Multiple press reports confirmed the 13-year-old's identity as FKD's founder from the island of Saaremaa; his legal name has not been publicly disclosed. Eesti Ekspress was the primary Estonian publication that identified the Commander.[^4] + +In February 2020, FKD announced its dissolution. The organization resurfaced on Telegram in May 2021, continuing to operate under the FKD name with reduced capacity.[^1] + +### Post-Commander Leadership + +After KAPO's January 2020 intervention and Commander's withdrawal, AWD member [[Taylor Parker-Dipeppe]] took over some organizational functions. Parker-Dipeppe was a low-level AWD figure from Spring Hill, Florida who had participated in AWD's 2020 journalist-targeting campaign (the Kaleb Cole swatting conspiracy). He was charged in 2020 alongside AWD members, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to mail threatening communications and cyberstalking, and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge [[John C. Coughenour]] in Seattle to time served after a tearful apology.[^7] + +[[Nicholas Welker]] (alias "King ov Wrath"), of [[San Jose, California]], later served as a self-identified FKD leader. Welker was an [[Order of Nine Angles]] adherent who reportedly joined FKD as an "[[Insight Roles|insight role]]," consistent with O9A's practice of infiltrating and using existing extremist organizations as vehicles for initiatory criminal activity.[^8] + +### UK Proscription + +The UK Home Office, acting under recommendations from [[Counter Terrorism Policing]], proscribed FKD on 13 July 2020 under the Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2020, SI 2020/743, with effect from 17 July 2020. FKD was the third neo-Nazi organization proscribed in the UK within six months of 2020, following [[National Action]] (already proscribed) and [[Sonnenkrieg Division]] (proscribed February 2020). Membership or support of FKD became punishable by up to ten years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine.[^9] + +FKD was also designated a terrorist organization by [[Australian Security Intelligence Organisation|Australia]] and [[Canada]] (proscribed under Canada's Criminal Code, specific gazette date not confirmed in open sources).[^9] + +### Estonian Convictions (2025) + +In January 2025, Harju County Court in Estonia convicted three FKD members for membership in and recruitment for a terrorist organization. All three had been minors at the time of their offenses. The court imposed obligations rather than custodial sentences as part of a plea agreement. Their names were not publicly disclosed under juvenile protections.[^1] + +### UK Prosecutions + +#### Cornwall Teenager (2019 arrest, 2021 sentence) + +A boy from [[Cornwall]], first arrested in July 2019 by Devon and Cornwall Police and [[Counter Terrorism Policing South West]] after posting online about building a firearm, was identified as head of the UK cell FKD_GB, which he had joined at age 14. Police seized digital devices and found bomb-making and firearms-manufacture manuals, over 50 ideological texts, and extreme-right propaganda. He pleaded guilty to two counts of disseminating a terrorist publication (Terrorism Act 2006, s. 2) and 10 counts of collecting material of use to a terrorist (Terrorism Act 2000, s. 58), and was sentenced to a 24-month youth rehabilitation order at the [[Old Bailey]] in February 2021. The Crown Prosecution Service described him as Britain's youngest terrorist.[^10] + +#### Luke Hunter (2019 arrest, December 2020 sentence) + +[[Luke Hunter]], 23, of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], was arrested in October 2019. His [[Telegram]] channel had over 1,200 subscribers and disseminated content produced in affiliation with FKD. He created a white supremacist website through which he circulated terrorist handbooks, instructional material on surveillance and guerrilla warfare, and explicit calls for the extermination of Jewish and LGBTQ people. He admitted seven charges (encouragement of terrorism, dissemination of terrorist publications, and broadcasting violent material) and was sentenced to four years and two months at [[Leeds Crown Court]] on 23 December 2020.[^11] + +#### Paul Dunleavy (2020 conviction, November 2020 sentence) + +[[Paul Dunleavy]], 17, of [[Rugby]], Warwickshire, was unanimously convicted by a [[Birmingham Crown Court]] jury in October 2020 of preparing for acts of terrorism between April and September 2019. Dunleavy distributed firearm-conversion manuals and gave operational advice on building viable firearms to FKD members online. The court heard that three members to whom Dunleavy had provided "significant advice and encouragement" had since been convicted of terrorist offences in Germany, Lithuania, and the United States. Judge [[Paul Farrer QC]] sentenced him to five years and six months' detention, with a concurrent two years for possessing terrorist documents.[^12] + +#### Luca Benincasa (2022 arrest, January 2023 conviction) + +[[Luca Benincasa]], 20, of [[Cardiff]] (specifically [[Whitchurch, Cardiff]]), was arrested in January 2022 by counter-terror police who raided his separated parents' homes and found a tactical vest, camouflage clothing, an [[SS]] officer's dagger and flag, a Nazi Party armband, and masks. Benincasa had served as a self-styled recruiter and "prominent member" of FKD. He pleaded guilty at [[Winchester Crown Court]] in July 2022 to membership of a proscribed organization and four counts of collecting information useful to a terrorist (including bomb-making instructions), and in August 2022 pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children (ages 4 to 7), one count of possession of extreme pornography, and one count of possession of a prohibited image of a child. He was sentenced in January 2023 by Judge [[Jane Miller]] to nine years and three months (five years seven months for terrorism, eight months consecutive for CSAM), to be served in a young offenders institution. He was the first person convicted under the proscription of FKD.[^13] + +### US Prosecutions + +#### Conor Climo (2019 arrest, 2020 sentence) + +[[Conor Climo]], 23, of [[Las Vegas, Nevada]], was arrested on 8 August 2019 after the [[FBI]]'s [[Las Vegas Joint Terrorism Task Force]] began investigating him in April 2019 following intelligence about his encrypted communications with FKD members. Climo communicated with FKD members beginning in late 2017 and discussed attacking a synagogue and an LGBTQ bar. FBI agents and an informant posing as fellow extremists documented his attack planning. A search of his home uncovered bomb components and two rifles. He pleaded guilty in February 2020 to possession of an unregistered firearm (the component parts of a destructive device) in the [[District of Nevada]], and was sentenced on 13 November 2020 to two years in federal prison followed by six months' home confinement by U.S. District Judge [[James Mahan]].[^14] + +#### Jarrett William Smith (2019 arrest, 2020 sentence) + +In September 2019, [[Jarrett William Smith]], a U.S. Army Specialist at [[Fort Riley]], Kansas, was arrested after his FKD membership was established. Smith had distributed IED-making instructions to undercover FBI agents and discussed potential attack targets. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on August 19, 2020, in the [[District of Kansas]].[^3] + +#### Nicholas Welker (2023 arrest, 2024 sentence) + +Nicholas Welker, alias "King ov Wrath," of San Jose, California, was arrested on 21 March 2023 and charged in the [[Eastern District of New York]] with conspiracy to make interstate threats. Welker had served as a leader of FKD and on 28 March 2023 posted a death threat against a Brooklyn-based journalist who had reported on FKD, including a photograph of the journalist with a gun aimed at his head and the words "Race Traitor." He pleaded guilty in September 2023 and was sentenced to 44 months' imprisonment on 19 April 2024 by U.S. District Judge [[Pamela K. Chen]].[^15] + +### Lithuania + +[[Gediminas Beržinskas]] was detained on 15 October 2019 after placing a homemade explosive device outside the offices of [[Western Union]] in [[Vilnius]] on 14 October 2019. He had spray-painted "FK Division," "Siege," and a swastika on the building wall on 6 October 2019. Lithuanian law enforcement found bomb-making materials and a firearm in his possession. [[Vilnius Regional Court]] convicted him of plotting a terror act, illegal possession of explosives and a firearm, and attempting to commit a crime. The sentence was reduced by one-third under the court's expedited procedure, and Beržinskas received a net term requiring approximately 18 more months' custody after his pre-trial detention. The case concluded in September 2020.[^16] + +British authorities separately prosecuted Paul Dunleavy for providing Beržinskas and other FKD members with firearm-conversion advice and explosive-device guidance. + +### Denmark + +A Danish male was arrested in April 2022 after police confirmed his membership in FKD. At a first-instance hearing (district court in [[Holbaek]]), the 16-year-old was convicted of attempting to recruit a classmate to FKD and distributing bomb-making and weapons manuals via Telegram, and was sentenced to five and a half years in a youth facility in May 2023. The court acquitted him of the main terrorism charge on the ground that he was unlikely to commit acts in the long term. The prosecution appealed to the [[Eastern High Court]] (Ostre Landsret). In May 2024 the Eastern High Court found the defendant guilty of terrorism, with sentencing scheduled for a later date.[^17] + +### Austria + +An Austrian national was arrested following a house search in May 2023 in which police found firearms, a bulletproof vest, a knife, a gas mask, and neo-Nazi propaganda material and memorabilia. His FKD-related activity consisted of online incitement from December 2019 to February 2020, calling for attacks against Jewish institutions, Muslims, and other minorities. On 1 July 2024 an Austrian court convicted him on charges including neo-Nazi reactivation, criminal association, incitement, and solicitation of punishable acts. The unconditional portion of the two-year sentence was five months; he had turned 21 at the time of sentencing.[^18] + +### FKD as Bridge: AWD to 764-Era Networks + +FKD's organizational trajectory after its nominal dissolution in February 2020 documents a direct connective arc between the AWD-era accelerationist structure and the Terrorgram-era ecosystem that incubated [[764 Network|764]] and [[The Com]]. + +When FKD reemerged on Telegram in May 2021, its leadership actively built coalition infrastructure within the "Terrorgram" network. A co-leader identified in the [[Middlebury Institute CTEC]] and [[Tech Against Terrorism]] joint 2022 report by the alias "Hergle Zelea" used the FKD platform to establish himself as a central figure in the [[Terrorgram Collective|Terrorgram]] community and as a core organizer of two coalition structures that emerged on Telegram in early 2021: the [[United Acceleration Front]] and the [[National Socialist Coalition]]. Zelea recruited [[InJekt Division]] (a Texas-based neo-fascist accelerationist group founded by [[Coleman Thomas Blevins]], arrested May 2021 for a Walmart mass-shooting threat), [[Vorherrschaft Division]], and [[Totenwaffen]] as the primary coalition partners. FKD already maintained a public alliance with Vorherrschaft Division prior to the UAF launch, distributing joint propaganda. The partnership was announced publicly on Telegram and used FKD's established network and aesthetic machinery to build the United Acceleration Front.[^19] + +The CTEC and Tech Against Terrorism joint study, which collected data from June 2021 through February 2022, documented 21 distinct entities within the resulting network, all operating through Terrorgram channels that would, in the following year, become recruitment and radicalization infrastructure for the networks feeding into 764 and The Com. The CTEC report noted that domain analysis of websites run by entities within the network suggested the apparent strength may have been artificially inflated; the organizing leadership likely created multiple nominally distinct entities to project a larger footprint than actually existed. The key mechanism was identical across the network: encrypted Telegram servers, youth recruitment targeting adolescents, accelerationist violence framed as catalytic rather than instrumental, and the glorification of mass-casualty attackers as "saints." FKD provided this ideological and communication infrastructure two to three years before the 764 prosecutions documented the same methods being used at scale.[^19][^20] + +No documentary evidence yet confirms named individuals who were members of both FKD and 764 or CVLT. That linkage, if it exists, remains an open research thread. + +### Intelligence Agency Involvement + +Documented agency involvement in FKD investigations: + +- [[KAPO]] (Estonian Internal Security Service): intervened with the Commander's parents in January 2020, described in press reporting as acting on "suspicion of danger." KAPO has not publicly disclosed the Commander's legal name. No criminal referral was made because the Commander was below Estonia's minimum criminal liability age of 14.[^6] +- [[FBI]] Las Vegas [[JTTF]]: initiated investigation of Conor Climo in April 2019; used undercover agents and at least one informant; arrested Climo in August 2019.[^14] +- FBI undercover operation, District of Kansas: involved in the Smith investigation (covered in the [[Jarrett William Smith]] page).[^3] +- [[Counter Terrorism Policing South West]] (UK): arrested the Cornwall teenager in July 2019. +- Counter Terrorism Policing (UK, broader): coordinated the investigations of Luke Hunter, Paul Dunleavy, and Luca Benincasa; recommended FKD for proscription. +- Kaitsepolitsei (KAPO, Estonia): confirmed FKD as a proscribed terrorist organization in public statements accompanying the January 2025 Harju County Court conviction. + +No parliamentary testimony or congressional hearing records referencing FKD have been identified in open sources. [[EUROPOL]] has not published a named operation targeting FKD specifically, though FKD members appear in the broader European far-right prosecution landscape. [[SUPO]] (Finnish Security Intelligence Service) has not published named FKD cases in its open annual reports, despite KAPO's intervention having taken place partly through contact with the Commander's parents in Finland. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Estonian World. "A global neo-Nazi organisation led by a 13-year-old Estonian schoolboy." April 2020. https://estonianworld.com/security/a-global-neo-nazi-organisation-led-by-a-13-year-old-estonian-schoolboy/; ERR News. "Estonian court convicts three right-wing extremists." January 2025. https://news.err.ee/1609583332/estonian-court-convicts-three-right-wing-extremists +[^2]: ADL. "Feuerkrieg Division (FKD)." Backgrounder. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/feuerkrieg-division-fkd +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice. "Army Soldier Sentenced for Distributing Information About Explosive Devices." August 19, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ks/pr/army-soldier-sentenced-distributing-information-about-explosive-devices +[^4]: Eugene Antifa. "Feuerkrieg Division Exposed: International Neo-Nazi Terrorist Network." February 24, 2020. https://eugeneantifa.noblogs.org/post/2020/02/24/feuerkrieg-division; Estonian World. "A global neo-Nazi organisation led by a 13-year-old Estonian schoolboy." April 2020. https://estonianworld.com/security/a-global-neo-nazi-organisation-led-by-a-13-year-old-estonian-schoolboy/ +[^5]: BuzzFeed News. "An International Neo-Nazi Group Thought To Have Been Dissolved Is Recruiting Again In The US." Christopher Miller, 2021. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/neo-nazi-feuerkrieg-division-returns-recruiting-us +[^6]: Fox 11 Online (via AP). "13-year-old boy led neo-Nazi group linked to bomb plots." April 2020. https://fox11online.com/news/nation-world/13-year-old-boy-led-neo-nazi-group-linked-to-bomb-plots; Washington Times. "He led a neo-Nazi group linked to bomb plots. He was 13." April 11, 2020. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/11/he-led-a-neo-nazi-group-linked-to-bomb-plots-he-wa/ +[^7]: BuzzFeed News. "A Transgender Former Neo-Nazi Won't Go To Prison For Harassing Journalists." Christopher Miller, 2021. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/no-prison-transgender-neo-nazi-parker-dipeppe +[^8]: Counter Extremism Project. "Feuerkrieg Division." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/feuerkrieg-division; Vice. "Neo-Nazi Leader 'ilovehate5150' Charged for Threatening to Kill Journalist." March 2023. https://www.vice.com/en/article/neo-nazi-nicholas-welker-arrested-feuerkrieg-division/ +[^9]: UK Legislation. The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2020, SI 2020/743. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/743/article/2/made; Counter Terrorism Policing. "Feuerkrieg Division (FKD) proscribed as terrorist group." July 2020. https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/news/fkd-proscribed/ +[^10]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Youngest British terrorist sentenced for neo-Nazi manuals stash." Press release. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/youngest-british-terrorist-sentenced-neo-nazi-manuals-stash; Counter Terror Business. "Cornwall teenager sentenced for terrorism offences." February 2021. https://counterterrorbusiness.com/news/09022021/cornwall-teenager-sentenced-terrorism-offences +[^11]: Hope Not Hate. "LUKE HUNTER: profile of a Nazi terror propagandist." December 23, 2020. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2020/12/23/luke-hunter-profile-of-a-nazi-terror-propagandist/; Campaign Against Antisemitism. "British Neo-Nazi Who Called for 'Eradication' of Jews Sentenced to 4-Year Jail Term." December 2020. +[^12]: Express and Star. "Boy, 17, sentenced to detention for preparing neo-Nazi acts of terrorism." November 6, 2020. https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/11/06/boy-17-sentenced-to-detention-for-preparing-neo-nazi-acts-of-terrorism/; Far-Right Criminals. "Rugby teenager Paul Dunleavy jailed for terror offences." November 6, 2020. https://far-rightcriminals.com/2020/11/06/rugby-teenager-paul-dunleavy-jailed-for-terror-offences/ +[^13]: Tell MAMA UK. "Neo-Nazi Luca Benincasa jailed for terrorism offences and child abuse images." January 2023. https://tellmamauk.org/neo-nazi-luca-benincasa-jailed-for-terrorism-offences-and-child-abuse-images/; ITV News Wales. "Neo-Nazi, 20, from Cardiff jailed for being member of far-right terror group." January 26, 2023. https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2023-01-26/dangerous-neo-nazi-jailed-for-being-a-member-of-far-right-terror-group +[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Nev. "Las Vegas Man Pleads Guilty To Possession Of Bomb-Making Components." February 2020. https://www.justice.gov/usao-nv/pr/las-vegas-man-pleads-guilty-possession-bomb-making-components; Las Vegas Sun. "White supremacist sentenced to 2 years in bomb plot case." November 13, 2020. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2020/11/13/white-supremacist-sentenced-to-2-years-in-bomb-plo/ +[^15]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDNY. "Leader of White Supremacist Group Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Make Death Threats Against Journalist." September 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/leader-white-supremacist-group-pleads-guilty-conspiring-make-death-threats-against; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-EDNY. "White Supremacist Leader Sentenced to 44 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Make Death Threats Against Brooklyn Journalist." April 19, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/white-supremacist-leader-sentenced-44-months-prison-conspiring-make-death-threats +[^16]: LRT (Lithuanian National Radio and Television). "Lithuanian neo-Nazi receives 28-month sentence for attempting terror attack." September 2020. https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1235208/lithuanian-neo-Nazi-receives-28-month-sentence-for-attempting-terror-attack; LRT. "Britain sentences teenager who 'advised' Lithuanian neo-Nazi terrorist." 2021. https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1274096/britain-sentences-teenager-who-advised-lithuanian-neo-nazi-terrorist +[^17]: The Local Denmark. "Danish court gives 16-year-old five years in prison after terror conviction." May 11, 2023. https://www.thelocal.dk/20230511/danish-court-gives-16-year-old-five-years-in-prison-after-terror-conviction; anews.com.tr. "Danish teenager who called himself Hitler's soldier found guilty of terrorism." May 27, 2024. +[^18]: Vienna.at. "Viennese 'Fire Warrior' Receives Another Prison Sentence, No Longer Has to Go to Jail." July 2024. https://www.vienna.at/viennese-fire-warrior-receives-another-prison-sentence-no-longer-has-to-go-to-jail/9176371; Counter Extremism Project. "Feuerkrieg Division." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/feuerkrieg-division +[^19]: ADL. "Feuerkrieg Division." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/feuerkrieg-division-fkd; Middlebury Institute CTEC. "Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online." https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/militant-accelerationism-coalitions-case-study; Tech Against Terrorism / CTEC. "Accelerationism Report." 2022. https://www.techagainstterrorism.org/hubfs/CTEC__TAT-Accelerationism-Report-.pdf +[^20]: Middlebury Institute CTEC / Tech Against Terrorism. "Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online." June 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/militant-accelerationism-coalitions-case-study; full PDF: https://www.techagainstterrorism.org/hubfs/CTEC__TAT-Accelerationism-Report-.pdf diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Greggy's Cult.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Greggy's Cult.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..49e10611 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Greggy's Cult.md @@ -0,0 +1,28 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - GreggyCult + - ChildExploitation + - NVE + - Online + - USA +start: 2020 +end: 2021 +location: Online (United States) +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: Greggy's Cult was an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord from January 2020 to January 2021, using blackmail and CSAM coercion methods that directly informed the founding of 764. +--- + +[[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the "Cult of Greg") was an online child exploitation network that operated primarily on [[Discord]] and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. It recruited minor victims through gaming servers and social media, coerced them into producing [[CSAM]] (child sexual abuse material) through blackmail and psychological manipulation, and demanded ongoing self-harm through the same coercive mechanisms. These methods became the operational template for the [[764 Network]], which emerged in late 2020 and early 2021. [[NCITE]] (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha) tracked 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes across Greggy's Cult, [[CVLT]], and 764 as of December 2025, treating the three as a connected prosecutorial and organizational lineage.[^1] + +### 764 Founding Lineage + +[[Bradley Chance Cadenhead|Bradley Cadenhead]], who founded 764 as a 15-year-old in Stephenville, Texas, was connected to Greggy's Cult before building 764. The operational model Cadenhead established for 764 - recruitment through gaming platforms, CSAM coercion, blackmail, demands for self-harm - directly mirrored Greggy's Cult's methods. Law enforcement and researchers describe Greggy's Cult as one of the "predecessor groups" that "helped spawn" 764, alongside [[CVLT]]. + +[[Rumaldo Valdez]], a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class stationed in Wahiawa, Hawaii, was a documented Greggy's Cult member. His devices contained CSAM described in federal sentencing documents as among "the most extreme child-abuse images in existence." Valdez was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison in March 2026 and faces additional charges in the [[Eastern District of New York]] alongside four co-defendants including [[Camden Rodriguez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[David Brilhante]], and [[Hector Bermudez]].[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: NCITE. "Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism: An Examination of Federal and State Charges Against 764 and Related Networks." University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php +[^2]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704 diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Harm Nation.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Harm Nation.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c2e9d8c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Harm Nation.md @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - TheCom + - NVE + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - AnimalCrushing + - FederalCase + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Harm Nation is a 764 splinter network that emerged around 2022, characterized by CSAM production and animal crushing content, with Kyle Spitze of Maryville, Tennessee as its most documented prosecuted member." +start: 2022 +location: "Online (global)" +--- + +[[Harm Nation]] (also abbreviated HN or stylized as HarmNation) is a splinter group within [[The Com]] ecosystem that emerged around 2022 from the fragmentation of the [[764 Network]] following the arrest and conviction of 764 founder [[Bradley Chance Cadenhead]]. Researchers and the [[U.S. Department of Justice|DOJ]] consider it continuous with 764 due to shared aesthetics, methods, and personnel. It engages in sextortion, production and distribution of [[CSAM]] (child sexual abuse material), psychological coercion of minors, and animal crushing content. Harm Nation appears alongside [[Kaskar]], [[Court]], [[Leak Society]], [[H3ll]], and [[CVLTIST]] as one of the named post-2021 764 successors documented by the [[ADL]], [[ISD Global|ISD]], and the [[Global Project Against Hate and Extremism|GPAHE]].[^1] + +### Origins + +Harm Nation formed during the 2022 period of 764 leadership disruption, when Cadenhead's arrest and internal infighting caused the original network to fracture and members to reconstitute under new names. The specific founder of Harm Nation has not been publicly identified in court documents or law enforcement press releases available through mid-2026. Researchers from ISD and GPAHE characterize Harm Nation as part of a cluster of successor groups that carried forward 764's operational methods while operating under distinct branding. + +One account in the research literature describes members of other large Com chat rooms discussing an individual with the handle "Cxrpse" (the founder of [[No Lives Matter]]) and another individual known as "Kush" starting their own groups under the 764 umbrella after the original founder's arrest, though neither of these individuals has been publicly identified as a Harm Nation founder specifically.[^2] + +### Operations and Methods + +Harm Nation operates within the broader Com content economy: members produce documented criminal acts as prerequisites for status advancement. As with 764, the network's content includes coerced self-harm imagery (specifically "blood signs" and "cut signs" in which victims carve symbols into their bodies), CSAM production, and distribution of animal abuse content. The animal crushing element, while present across multiple 764 successor groups, is a particularly consistent feature of documented Harm Nation cases. + +### Kyle William Spitze + +The most documented Harm Nation prosecution involves [[Kyle Spitze|Kyle William Spitze]], 26, of [[Maryville, Tennessee]] (Blount County), who used the online alias "Criminal" (and variants including "CRIMINALOLI") across Telegram and related platforms. + +Spitze was arrested and initially charged at the state level in Blount County. A superseding federal indictment was filed on March 2, 2024, in the [[U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee]], at Knoxville, returning eight counts: + +- Three counts production of child pornography +- Three counts distribution of animal crushing videos (depicting a mutilated chicken) +- One count enticement of a minor +- One count possession with intent to view child pornography + +Court documents describe Spitze sharing sexual videos of young children to a Telegram channel, some of which included variations of his online username written in blood or carved onto the bodies of minor victims. Separate videos documented the mutilation of a chicken, with the animal's intestines arranged to spell out his username. + +On December 16, 2024, Spitze entered a guilty plea before District Judge [[Thomas A. Varlan]] to Counts 1, 6, 7, and 8 of the superseding indictment (one production count, all three animal crushing counts, and the possession count). The remaining four counts were dropped pursuant to the plea agreement. The two production counts to which he pleaded carry a sentencing range of 15 to 30 years each, and the plea agreement subjects him to a potential aggregate sentence of 30 years to life. + +Sentencing was scheduled for January 8, 2026, before Judge Varlan, then cancelled by court order dated December 23, 2025 and rescheduled by separate order. No sentencing date had been publicly set as of mid-2026.[^3] + +A secondary prosecution arose from Spitze's father, [[Michael W. Spitze]], 60, of [[Maryland]], who was separately charged with and pleaded guilty to one count of witness tampering. Michael Spitze sent a message to a 12-year-old victim instructing her to delete any evidence she held and to encourage others to do the same. He was sentenced in the United States District Court in Knoxville; his sentencing was scheduled for May 20, 2026.[^4] + +### Current Status + +No publicly identified Harm Nation members beyond Kyle Spitze had been named in court documents or DOJ press releases available through mid-2026. The group was included in FBI and DOJ descriptions of the broader 764 network under active investigation. As of April 2026, the FBI was conducting more than 350 active investigations tied to 764 and related networks; Harm Nation and the other named successor groups are subsumed within that figure rather than tracked separately in public reporting. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ADL. "764." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764; ISD Global. "764." https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-explainer/764/; Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "The 764 Network: A Global Threat for Child Abuse and Radicalization." https://globalextremism.org/post/764-network/ +[^2]: Unicorn Riot. "Sextortion Coms: Inside a Vile Child Exploitation Cult Run by Nazi-Linked Teens." 2024. https://unicornriot.ninja/2024/sextortion-coms-inside-a-vile-child-exploitation-cult-run-by-nazi-linked-teens/ +[^3]: WBIR. "Blount Co. man signs plea deal after being accused of violent, sexual crimes against children." December 2024. https://www.wbir.com/article/news/crime/kyle-spitze-pleads-guilty-blount-county/51-f6ba606c-479d-4c74-aa11-bf839732a437; The Daily Times (Maryville, TN). "Federal judge reschedules Spitze sentencing hearing." https://www.thedailytimes.com/news/federal-judge-reschedules-spitze-sentencing-hearing/article_ca8a75c8-8325-48a4-91c1-be09520f478f.html; CourtListener. "United States v. Spitze-TV1, 3:24-cr-00025, Eastern District of Tennessee." https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68361688/united-states-v-spitze-tv1/; Ali Winston / X. March 21, 2024. https://x.com/awinston/status/1770949384538087652 +[^4]: WBIR. "Dad who tried to get child victim to delete evidence against his son faces May sentencing." 2026. https://www.wbir.com/article/news/crime/dad-who-tried-to-help-blount-co-son-accused-in-online-sex-case-reaches-plea-agreement-with-feds/51-57106d7b-af46-46a8-9b71-e6f7ede631d9 diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/InJekt Division.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/InJekt Division.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..faaf93a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/InJekt Division.md @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - Telegram + - ClericalFascism + - Texas + - TerroristNetwork +start: 2021-02 +end: 2021 +location: "Kerrville, Texas (online, national)" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "InJekt Division is a neo-Nazi accelerationist Telegram organization founded in February 2021 by Coleman Thomas Blevins of Kerrville, Texas, serving as a founding node in the United Acceleration Front coalition before Blevins's arrest in May 2021 for a mass-shooting threat targeting a Walmart." +--- + +InJekt Division (ID) is a neo-Nazi accelerationist organization founded in February 2021 by [[Coleman Thomas Blevins]] of [[Kerrville, Texas]], operating primarily through a public [[Telegram]] channel and espousing an ideology its members called "clerical fascism," a blend of accelerationist violence, antisemitism, misogyny, and elements of Islamic extremist framing. Blevins was arrested in May 2021 on state terroristic threat charges shortly after the group emerged, and was sentenced in May 2024 to 60 months in federal prison on a felon-in-possession-of-a-firearm count in the [[Western District of Texas]]. The group is documented by the [[Middlebury Institute CTEC]] and [[Tech Against Terrorism]] as a founding node in the [[United Acceleration Front]], one of two militant accelerationist coalitions that built the organizational bridge between the [[Feuerkrieg Division]] (FKD) post-2020 revival and the broader Terrorgram-era network that incubated [[764 Network|764]] and [[The Com]].[^1] + +### Founding and Ideology + +Blevins founded InJekt Division in February 2021 and served as its primary public face under the alias "Korb" (also spelled "Kørbe"). In a February 2021 Telegram post, Blevins described the group's inner circle as led by the "Shock Waffen Twins" (SWT), two members (of whom Blevins was one; the second was not publicly identified by any law enforcement document or named press report) who directed group activity, membership sponsorship, and the group's ideological output. A man using the name Korb was described as the president of InJekt Division during a far-right podcast.[^2] + +The group's accelerationist ideology centered on the phrase "pray for rain," used as shorthand for the desired nuclear fallout that would collapse civilization and permit a fascist reconstruction. InJekt Division embraced the label "clerical fascism," a self-coined ideological marker blending national socialist accelerationism with religious and misogynist framing that the group treated as distinct from the occult or Satanist currents within other Terrorgram-affiliated networks. InJekt Division explicitly opposed networks including [[Order of Nine Angles]] adherents, [[Harm Nation]], and [[764 Network|764]] on the grounds that those groups functioned as fronts for child exploitation; InJekt documented that opposition through doxxing activity targeting individuals it identified as pedophiles within the broader neo-Nazi scene.[^2][^3] + +### Geographic Reach + +Documented membership was geographically dispersed: Texas (founding base), New Hampshire, Louisiana, Massachusetts, California, and the New York-Pennsylvania-New Jersey tri-state area. The group operated via cell structure with no formal hierarchical coordination outside the SWT inner circle.[^3] + +### Relationship to FKD and the United Acceleration Front + +[[Feuerkrieg Division]] reemerged on Telegram in May 2021, in the immediate aftermath of InJekt Division's founding and Blevins's arrest. A co-leader of the revived FKD, identified in the CTEC/TAT report by the alias "Hergle Zelea," used the FKD platform to establish himself as a central figure in the broader Terrorgram community and as the primary organizer of two coalition structures: the United Acceleration Front and the [[National Socialist Coalition]] (also described in some sources as the "National Socialist Alliance"). InJekt Division and FKD provided what CTEC described as "established networks and aesthetic machinery" to build the UAF. The partnership was announced publicly on Telegram.[^4] + +The CTEC and Tech Against Terrorism joint study, which collected data from June 2021 through February 2022, identified 21 distinct entities within the resulting coalition network, all operating through Terrorgram channels. The report noted that the network's apparent strength may have been artificially inflated by domain-record analysis, suggesting the organizing leadership created multiple nominally distinct entities to project a larger footprint.[^4] + +Additional Telegram-based groups operating in the same UAF coalition network alongside InJekt Division and FKD included [[Vorherrschaft Division]] and [[Totenwaffen]]. FKD already maintained a "very public alliance" with Vorherrschaft Division prior to the UAF launch, distributing joint propaganda. Totenwaffen, an eco-fascist accelerationist group founded in November 2020 by Lukas Fast (alias "Luthias Fast"), a 17-year-old from [[Potsdam, Germany]], operated in the same coalition space until approximately 2022.[^5] + +### Blevins Arrest and Federal Prosecution + +On May 27, 2021, Blevins posted to social media: "I'm going to Walmart," followed by a photograph of himself holding a black AR-15, then the message, "I have no problem spending the rest of my life in prison for Shootings [sic] up Walmart." Kerr County authorities executed a search warrant on May 28, 2021. Officers found 556 rounds of ammunition at Blevins's apartment and an AR-15 with four magazines in a vehicle belonging to his roommate.[^6] + +The federal case, USA v. Blevins, was filed April 6, 2022, as case number 5:22-cr-00169 in the Western District of Texas. Blevins pleaded guilty on November 28, 2023, to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. U.S. District Judge in the Western District sentenced him to 60 months (five years) in federal prison in May 2024.[^7] + +No other InJekt Division members were publicly charged in connection with the group's Telegram activities as of May 2026. The identity of the second member of the "Shock Waffen Twins" inner circle was not confirmed in any public law enforcement document. + +### Position in the AWD-to-764 Pipeline + +The organizational arc that CTEC documented in the 2022 report runs: AWD (2015-2020), then FKD (2018-2020, revived 2021) plus InJekt Division (2021), then UAF/NSC coalition (2021-2022), then Terrorgram channel infrastructure (2022-2024). The 764 Network and The Com emerged from overlapping recruitment infrastructure during the same 2021-2022 period when the UAF was operational. No court document or law enforcement filing as of May 2026 names a specific individual confirmed as a member of both the UAF/InJekt ecosystem and 764 or The Com. The CTEC report identifies the mechanism of continuity (Telegram channel infrastructure, youth recruitment aesthetics, leaderless accelerationism) but stops short of naming specific personnel bridges.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ADL. "Texas Man Arrested for Terrorist Threats Targeting Local Walmart." June 2021. https://www.adl.org/resources/article/texas-man-arrested-terrorist-threats-targeting-local-walmart; SPLC Hatewatch. "Texas Man Arrested on Charges of Terroristic Threats Ran White Power Telegram Channel." June 16, 2021. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/06/16/texas-man-arrested-charges-terroristic-threats-ran-white-power-telegram-channel +[^2]: Raw Story. "The Kerrville Nazi who threatened to shoot up Walmart started a martyrdom cult and fantasized about a nuclear holocaust." https://www.rawstory.com/coleman-thomas-blevins/ +[^3]: Philly Fash Watch / Anarchist Federation. "InJekt Division and Its Local Membership." https://phillyfashwatch.noblogs.org/injekt-division-and-its-local-membership/ ; https://www.anarchistfederation.net/injekt-division-and-its-local-membership/ +[^4]: Middlebury Institute CTEC / Tech Against Terrorism. "Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online." June 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/militant-accelerationism-coalitions-case-study; full PDF: https://www.techagainstterrorism.org/hubfs/CTEC__TAT-Accelerationism-Report-.pdf +[^5]: Tracking Terrorism (TRAC). "Interconnectivity Between Accelerationist Networks: Totenwaffen, Vorherrschaft Division, The InJekt Division, and Feuerkrieg Division." https://trackingterrorism.org/chatter/interconnectivity-between-accelerationist-networks-totenwaffen-vorherrschaft-division-the-injekt-division-and-feuerkrieg-division/; TRAC. Totenwaffen profile. https://trackingterrorism.org/group/trac-profile-totenwaffen-aka-totenwaffe/ +[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-WDTX. "Kerrville Man Who Made Terrorist Threats Sentenced on Firearm Charges." May 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/kerrville-man-who-made-terrorist-threats-sentenced-firearm-charges; CBS News. "Texas man arrested after authorities say they intercepted plans for a mass shooting at Walmart." May 30, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coleman-blevins-planned-walmart-mass-shooting-texas/ +[^7]: PacerMonitor. USA v. Blevins, 5:22-cr-00169, Texas Western District Court. https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/44455132/USA_v_Blevins; KSAT. "Coleman Thomas Blevins, 31, sentenced on firearm charges." May 9, 2024. https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/05/09/kerrville-man-accused-of-making-terroristic-threats-sentenced-to-5-years-on-felony-firearm-charges/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Iron March.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Iron March.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c16b874b --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Iron March.md @@ -0,0 +1,123 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - IronMarch + - NeoNazi + - AtomwaffenDivision + - SiegeCulture + - Forum + - Russia + - DatabaseLeak +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Iron March was a Russian neo-fascist web forum founded by Alisher Mukhitdinov in 2011 that served as the primary incubator for Atomwaffen Division and several other neo-Nazi organizations until its closure in 2017, after which a 2019 database leak exposed 1,207 user accounts and enabled identification of military personnel, law enforcement employees, and organizational moderators across multiple countries." +start: 2011 +end: 2017 +location: "Russia (online)" +--- + +[[Iron March]] was a neo-fascist web forum founded in 2011 by [[Russia|Russian]] nationalist [[Alisher Mukhitdinov]] (operating under the alias "Alexander Slavros") and active until its closure in 2017. During its six years of operation, it served as the primary international incubator for a new generation of neo-Nazi and neo-fascist organizations, most significantly [[Atomwaffen Division]], and played a critical role in popularizing [[James Mason]]'s 1992 book *[[Siege]]* among a younger generation of online militants beginning in 2015. + +### Founding and Character + +Mukhitdinov launched Iron March in 2011 as an explicitly neo-fascist and neo-Nazi discussion community. The forum's character distinguished it from older white nationalist online spaces by its emphasis on international fascist solidarity rather than American white nationalism specifically, its embrace of philosophical and esoteric neo-Nazism alongside more conventional political content, and its willingness to host members from across the world who were organizing actual offline groups. + +The forum attracted members who were simultaneously producing theory, building organizations, and planning operations, which made it unusually consequential relative to its size. Members who later committed acts of violence, founded violent organizations, or were prosecuted on terrorism-related charges had all been active participants in the Iron March community. + +### Predecessor: International Third Positionist Federation + +Iron March was not the forum's original identity. On June 26, 2010, an unidentified individual using the username "Kacen" created a forum called the "International Third Positionist Federation" (ITPF) on [[Bizhat]], an India-based hosting service offering ready-to-use forum templates. ITPF showed no activity until April 2011, when Mukhitdinov joined and began creating content. In September 2011, the ITPF administrators migrated the forum to a new domain, ironmarch.org, using [[Invision Power Services]] software, and shut down the ITPF instance. An Iron March moderator using the screen name "Woman in Black" referenced unspecified technical issues as the reason for migration in private messages recovered from the database. The identity of "Kacen" and of "Woman in Black" has not been established in open-source reporting.[^1] + +### Forum Administration and Named Moderators + +Mukhitdinov ("Alexander Slavros") is the only forum administrator whose real identity has been fully established. [[BBC News Russian]] identified Mukhitdinov in January 2020, following an investigation that located him still living in southwest Moscow in a prefabricated apartment block. His parents had met as students at the [[Moscow State Institute of International Relations]] (MGIMO), an institution with documented ties to Russian state security agencies. His father was a businessman and CEO of a charitable foundation. A close relative on his father's side, [[Nuritdin Mukhitdinov]], was a senior Soviet official who led the Uzbek government under Khrushchev and served as an ambassador. BBC Russia investigated claims that Alisher Mukhitdinov had been pressured by Russian authorities for alleged fundraising for the [[Azov Battalion]] (designated a terrorist organization in Russia) but found no evidence the fundraising occurred. He has not been prosecuted in any jurisdiction as of May 2026.[^2] + +[[Benjamin Raymond]], the co-founder of [[National Action]], was a named Iron March administrator. Raymond's administrative role on Iron March predated National Action's founding in 2013, and he served as the organization's primary propagandist. The Iron March database confirmed Raymond's Iron March presence in records surfaced after the 2019 leak.[^3] + +[[John Cartwright II]], operating under the username "Blood and Iron," joined Iron March in September 2011, immediately after the forum's founding, and served as a moderator. Database records and private message content identified him as a U.S. Navy member last known to be residing in Millersville, Maryland. He participated in Skype groups with other early-period Iron March members. His moderator role placed him within the core administrative cohort alongside Slavros from the forum's inception.[^4] + +### Atomwaffen Division + +The most significant organizational product of Iron March was [[Atomwaffen Division]], announced to the community on October 12, 2015 by founding member [[Brandon Russell]]. Russell had been organizing AWD for years before the formal announcement, claiming active recruitment since at least 2012, and AWD's ideological foundation in *Siege* and [[accelerationism]] reflected the content environment Iron March had cultivated.[^3] + +The forum's 2015 rediscovery and promotion of *Siege* was the critical event in *Siege*'s resurgence as an influential text. James Mason's essays had been largely ignored since the 1992 compilation, but Iron March gave them a global neo-Nazi audience that included the membership base from which AWD recruited.[^5] + +### Organizations Incubated by Iron March + +Beyond Atomwaffen Division, the forum directly produced or provided the founding membership for: + +[[National Action]] (UK, 2013): Founded by Benjamin Raymond (Iron March administrator) and [[Alex Davies]], who used the username "Daddy Terror" on Iron March. National Action was the first offline organization to emerge directly from Iron March and served as a model for subsequent formations.[^3] + +[[Antipodean Resistance]] (Australia, October 2016): Founded by [[Tim Heibach]] (username "Xav") and announced to the Iron March community on October 10, 2016, encouraging Australian Iron March users to contact "Xav" and "Kehlsteinhaus." The Iron March database later exposed Heibach's real identity. Other identified founding-era members included [[Nathaniel Anderson]] (username "HalArts," also "Rusty Sandusky") and [[Jacob Hersant]].[^6] + +### Database Leak: Technical Record + +The Iron March SQL database was uploaded to the [[Internet Archive]] on November 6, 2019, by a user operating under the handle "antifa-data," implying an activist motivation. The leaker's identity has not been established in any public record. The Internet Archive removed the dataset shortly after it was posted, but torrent links published by [[Bellingcat]] kept it circulating among researchers and journalists. + +The leaked archive contained a complete snapshot of the forum as it existed shortly before the site went offline in November 2017. Specific data fields included: member IDs, usernames, registration email addresses, IP addresses used at registration and login, registration timestamps (Unix format), two-factor authentication logs, all public forum posts, all private message threads (approximately 22,000 conversations), and forum administration data. The SQL dump required a database viewer such as MySQL Workbench or DB Browser for SQLite, but the same torrent included exported spreadsheets organized by field, lowering the technical barrier for non-specialist researchers.[^7] + +The researcher operating under the handle "Jewish Worker" built an independent searchable website from the raw data, making the dump accessible to non-technical journalists and activists who could query usernames, email addresses, and post content without managing their own SQL environment.[^8] + +Bellingcat published a how-to guide for accessing and interpreting the data on the same day as the leak, November 6, 2019, and separately produced an interactive map geolocating all forum activity originating from IP addresses near U.S. military installations. Bellingcat also compiled a spreadsheet of all private message threads involving users who identified themselves as active-duty military.[^7] + +The [[MIT Media Lab]] undertook a computational analysis of the forum corpus using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling and network analysis, finding that Iron March grew through social bonding rather than ideological convergence, a finding with implications for counter-extremism strategy.[^9] + +### Forum Statistics and Geographic Distribution + +At the time of its 2017 closure, Iron March had 1,207 registered user accounts. Those users produced more than 195,000 public posts and approximately 4,500 to 22,000 private message threads (sources vary in granularity). The median self-reported age of the user base was 26, and the average was 28, based on data from 183 users who disclosed their age. + +Among the 1,185 accounts that did not mask their IP addresses with a VPN or proxy, the dominant geographic concentrations outside the English-speaking world were the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Brazil. Within the English-speaking world, U.S.-based registrations dominated, followed by the [[United Kingdom]] (approximately 9 percent), [[Canada]] (approximately 7 percent), and [[Australia]] (approximately 5 percent).[^10] + +### Verified Real-Name Mappings: Military and Government Personnel + +The database leak directly enabled identification of active-duty military and government employees whose extremist activity had been pseudonymous. The following cases are documented in published investigative reporting: + +[[David Cole Tarkington]] used the username "The Yank" and was active on Iron March from 2013 to 2016, at which point he was serving as an aviation machinist mate's apprentice with [[Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-41]] at [[Naval Air Station Lemoore]], California. Private message records showed he attempted to recruit at least 12 Iron March members into Atomwaffen Division. [[Gizmodo]] reporters identified him in March 2020 and notified the Navy. [[NCIS]] opened an investigation. Tarkington was administratively separated from the Navy in April 2020. No criminal charges were filed.[^11] + +[[Travis Frey]] used the username "In Hoc Signo Vinces" and joined Iron March in 2013. He posted at least a dozen times between 2016 and 2017 while working as head of security at a [[CoreCivic]] jail in Indianapolis. By the time of his identification in January 2020, he had been promoted to captain at the [[Nevada Southern Detention Center]], a CoreCivic facility contracted with [[ICE]]. Database records included Frey's personal email address, phone number, birthday, and place of residence, enabling [[Vice News]] to identify him directly. Forum posts showed Frey describing himself as a "fascist" and expressing interest in organizing for the [[Traditionalist Workers Party]] in Indiana. CoreCivic placed him on administrative leave following Vice's January 2020 reporting. U.S. Senators called for a federal investigation into the Nevada facility.[^12] + +[[Thomas Adam Guba]], using the username "22goy," registered with the email address tguba2004@hotmail.com, enabling his identification as a Navy employee at the [[Naval Medical Logistics Command]] in Baltimore, Maryland. His photograph appeared in the Naval Medical Logistics Command journal "Logistically Speaking" in its October-December 2017 issue, shortly after he had gone inactive on Iron March. Previously he had served as an aviation structural mechanic.[^13] + +[[Van Ramsey Laws-Spencer]] was linked to two Iron March accounts: "Ozymandias" (registered with email pentaghast123@gmail.com, active October 2013 to April 2016) and "Turok" (email including Laws-Spencer's name, active August to October 2012). Multiple social media profiles operating under the "pentaghast123" username corroborated the identification. At the time of identification, Laws-Spencer was an active-duty Marine stationed at [[Camp Pendleton]], California.[^14] + +[[Boris Mihajlovic]] posted on Iron March in 2016, encouraging other Canadian users to enlist in the armed forces for weapons training. [[CBC News]] identified him and confirmed he had been promoted to leading seaman in April 2018 and was working as a supply technician for [[HMCS Tecumseh]], a naval reserve establishment in Calgary. When contacted, Mihajlovic acknowledged the posts and stated he had left extremist activity behind.[^15] + +### Verified Real-Name Mappings: Other Notable Identifications + +[[Raivis Zeltits]], the Secretary-General of Latvia's [[National Alliance]] party from 2014 to 2020, was identified through the database on November 12, 2019, as the user "Latvian_Integralist." Zeltits acknowledged the account in a Facebook post, stating he had written those posts at age 20 and no longer held those views. He remained in contact with Iron March administrator Benjamin Raymond as late as 2015. The identification triggered calls for his resignation within Latvian political circles.[^16] + +[[Benjamin Hannam]], a probationary constable with the [[Metropolitan Police Service]] (London), was identified through Iron March database records as a member of [[National Action]] before he applied to join the police. He had signed up to Iron March when he joined National Action's London branch in March 2016, more than two years before his police application. He was convicted on April 1, 2021 at the [[Old Bailey]] of National Action membership, two counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of possessing terrorist documents, and possession of a prohibited image of a child. He was sentenced to four years and four months, the first serving UK police officer convicted of terrorism-related offenses. The Iron March database was the mechanism through which his connection to National Action was first established.[^17] + +[[Nicholas Waugh]] (username "HaggiSS"), a Scottish businessman from Aberdeenshire, was identified by a joint investigation by [[The Ferret]] and [[Daily Record]]. The database showed Waugh had attempted to order National Action stickers, messaged fascists in Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Australia to build international links, and encouraged members to attend demonstrations in the UK. He operated an Etsy shop named "Wodenstone" selling handcrafted traditional jewelry. He was identified as a significant figure in Scottish National Action and [[Scottish Dawn]] before proscription.[^18] + +### Airbnb Platform Response + +In December 2019, [[Airbnb]] cross-referenced its identity-verification database against the leaked Iron March member list and banned more than 60 confirmed Iron March users from the platform. All identified Iron March accounts on Airbnb had been guest accounts rather than host accounts.[^19] + +### Successor Forum: Fascist Forge + +In April 2018, approximately six months after Iron March's closure, a user operating under the name "Mathias" launched [[Fascist Forge]], explicitly described in a founding note as a replacement for Iron March intended to "continue where they left off." Fascist Forge replicated Iron March's vetting process, requiring prospective members to submit ideological essays before gaining full access. By February 2020 the forum had more than 1,500 registered users. Fascist Forge's hosting registrar took the site offline in February 2020. No strong successor consolidation forum emerged immediately, though the network's activity dispersed into encrypted messaging applications and alternative platforms.[^20] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^2]: Meduza. "How a Moscow man from an Uzbek family started the world's biggest neo-Nazi forum." February 4, 2020. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/02/04/how-a-moscow-man-from-an-uzbek-family-started-the-world-s-biggest-neo-nazi-forum +[^3]: CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^4]: Iron March Dossiers. "John Cartwright II, aka Blood and Iron, Moderator of Neo-Nazi Forum Iron March." March 13, 2020. https://ironmarch.noblogs.org/post/2020/03/13/john-cartwright-ii-moderator-of-neo-nazi-forum-iron-march/ +[^5]: SPLC. "Atomwaffen Division." Extremist Files. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/atomwaffen-division/ +[^6]: The White Rose Society. "Antipodean Resistance and the Lads Society." https://thewhiterosesociety.writeas.com/antipodean-resistance-and-the-lads-society; Times of Israel. "Antipodean Resistance: Australia's new Nazis." https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/antipodean-resistance-australias-new-nazis/ +[^7]: Bellingcat. "Massive White Supremacist Message Board Leak: How to Access and Interpret the Data." November 6, 2019. https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2019/11/06/massive-white-supremacist-message-board-leak-how-to-access-and-interpret-the-data/ +[^8]: Gizmodo. "Neo-Nazi Web Forum Iron March Has SQL Database Dumped on the Internet Archive." November 7, 2019. https://gizmodo.com/neo-nazi-web-forum-iron-march-has-sql-database-dumped-o-1839721580 +[^9]: MIT Media Lab. "Investigating the Iron March Forums with Computational Tools: Far-Right Forum Network and LDA Analysis." Project overview, October 2020 to June 2023. https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/investigating-the-iron-march-forums-with-computational-tools-far-right-forum-network-and-lda-analysis/overview/ +[^10]: Lawfare. "The Iron March Data Dump Provides a Window Into How White Supremacists Communicate and Recruit." https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/iron-march-data-dump-provides-window-how-white-supremacists-communicate-and-recruit; CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^11]: Gizmodo. "Leak Exposes U.S. Navy Sailor as Once-Prolific Recruiter for Neo-Nazi Group." March 12, 2020. https://gizmodo.com/leak-exposes-u-s-navy-sailor-as-once-prolific-recruite-1841149776; Newsweek. "Navy Kicks Out Alleged Recruiter for Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Division After Investigation." April 2020. https://www.newsweek.com/navy-kicks-out-alleged-recruiter-neo-nazi-group-atomwaffen-division-after-investigation-1498704 +[^12]: Vice. "ICE Detention Center Captain Was on a Neo-Nazi Website and Wanted to Start a White Nationalist Group." January 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/ice-detention-center-captain-was-on-a-neo-nazi-website-and-wanted-to-start-a-white-nationalist-group/; Vice. "ICE Detention Center Captain With Neo-Nazi Ties Was Just Placed on Leave." January 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/ice-detention-center-captain-with-neo-nazi-ties-was-just-placed-on-leave/ +[^13]: Iron March Dossiers. "Thomas Adam Guba: Samuel Shapiro, Naval Medical Logistics Command Employee and Fascist Iron March User." February 27, 2020. https://ironmarch.noblogs.org/post/2020/02/27/thomas-adam-guba-naval-medical-logistics-command-member-and-fascist-iron-march-user/ +[^14]: Iron March Dossiers. "Van Ramsey Laws-Spencer: Neo-Nazi Organizer on Iron March and Active Marine." March 4, 2020. https://ironmarch.noblogs.org/post/2020/03/04/van-ramsey-lawsspencer-neo-nazi-organizer-on-iron-march-and-active-marine/ +[^15]: CBC News. "Leak of thousands of posts from defunct neo-Nazi forum offers clues to identify Canadian members." November-December 2019. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/iron-march-message-board-canadian-forces-1.5353201 +[^16]: Baltic Word / LSM. "Latvian Senior National Alliance figure apologises." November 2019. https://eng.lsm.lv/article/politics/politics/senior-national-alliance-figure-apologises-for-cloud-of-far-right-messages.a338044/ +[^17]: ITV News. "Neo-Nazi police officer Ben Hannam guilty of belonging to terror group National Action." April 1, 2021. https://www.itv.com/news/2021-04-01/neo-nazi-police-officer-ben-hannam-guilty-of-belonging-to-terror-group-national-action +[^18]: The Ferret. "Named: the Scots businessman linked to neo-Nazi groups." 2020. https://www.theferret.scot/neo-nazi-haggiss-iron-march/ +[^19]: Gizmodo. "Airbnb Bans Over 60 White Supremacists After Iron March Forum Database Leak." December 2019. https://gizmodo.com/airbnb-bans-over-60-white-supremacists-after-iron-march-1840420392 +[^20]: ADL. "Fascist Forge: A New Forum for Hate." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/fascist-forge-new-forum-hate; Vice. "Fascist Forge, the Online Neo-Nazi Recruitment Forum, Is Down." February 2020. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/43zn8j/fascist-forge-the-online-neo-nazi-recruitment-forum-is-down diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Kaskar.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Kaskar.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e32a3f5c --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Kaskar.md @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - TheCom + - NVE + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - Sextortion + - PsychologicalManipulation + - Online +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Kaskar is a 764 splinter group founded around 2022 by a figure known as 'Courtbox,' characterized by sadistic sextortion and psychological manipulation targeting children aged 9 to 17, with no publicly named prosecutions as of mid-2026." +start: 2022 +location: "Online (global)" +--- + +[[Kaskar]] is a subgroup within [[The Com]] ecosystem and one of the documented splinter organizations that emerged from the disruption of the [[764 Network]]'s original leadership structure around 2022. Its name is an acronym standing for "Kill All Sluts, Kill All Retards," consistent with the misogynistic and nihilistic internal aesthetics of the broader 764 network. Kaskar operates alongside [[Harm Nation]], [[Court]], [[Leak Society]], [[H3ll]], and [[CVLTIST]] as one of the named post-2021 764 successors documented by the [[ADL]], [[ISD Global|ISD]], the [[Global Project Against Hate and Extremism|GPAHE]], and researcher [[Marc-Andre Argentino]] of the Accelerationist Research Consortium.[^1] + +### Founding + +Kaskar was founded by a figure operating under the alias "Courtbox," who was initially a member of 764 before leaving during the period of internal fragmentation. The 2022 disruption of 764 leadership caused by [[Bradley Chance Cadenhead|Cadenhead]]'s arrest and internal infighting led multiple departing members to create distinct successor groups; Courtbox was one of these figures. Courtbox simultaneously operated a large public chat server on [[Telegram]] and [[Discord]] known as "Court," which functioned as a recruitment and member channel distinct from Kaskar itself but connected to it through Courtbox's dual role.[^2] + +Courtbox's real-world identity has not been publicly confirmed in court documents or law enforcement press releases available through mid-2026. Research accounts note that Courtbox remains unidentified by name in any public charging document. + +Some research accounts attribute Kaskar's co-founding to two individuals: Courtbox and a figure known as "Cxrpse" - the primary alias of [[Justin B.]], the Dutch national from [[Eindhoven, Netherlands]] who founded [[No Lives Matter]] and was arrested in the Netherlands on terrorism charges in July 2025. Chat logs reviewed by researchers show Cxrpse active in 764 spaces and indicate an affinity with Kaskar; however, the extent to which Cxrpse was a co-founder of Kaskar as a distinct group versus an associated figure within the broader Com ecosystem is not established in public court records.[^3] + +### Character and Methods + +Kaskar's primary operational signature, as described across research accounts, is extreme psychological manipulation as a tool of sextortion. The group targets victims in the 9 to 17 age range, with a documented preference for children from marginalized backgrounds or with mental health vulnerabilities. The targeting logic is consistent with the broader 764 network's operational guidance, which explicitly identified psychological vulnerability as the primary selection criterion for victims. + +Kaskar's methods as described by GPAHE and Argentino include: + +- Sadistic sextortion: obtaining compromising material through grooming, then weaponizing it for escalating coercion +- Coerced self-harm: directing victims to perform and document acts of self-harm on camera +- Acts of cruelty designed for psychological domination and control, consistent with the broader 764 content economy + +The "Court" server operated by Courtbox served as an avenue for victim recruitment and new member onboarding distinct from Kaskar's internal operations, giving the network a two-tier structure of a more visible public-facing recruitment channel and a closed operational group.[^2] + +### 764 Network Classification + +ISD, GPAHE, and the ADL collectively treat Kaskar as part of the 764 network rather than an independent organization, citing shared aesthetics, overlapping personnel, and continuity of method. The [[U.S. Department of Justice|DOJ]]'s umbrella designation of "Nihilistic Violent Extremists" (NVEs) applies to 764 and its affiliated splinter groups including Kaskar. + +The overlap between Kaskar's membership and 764 predates the formal split; Courtbox's presence within 764 before founding Kaskar, and the movement of personnel between named groups throughout The Com, make distinct organizational boundaries analytically difficult to maintain. FBI and DOJ documentation of the broader 764 network as of 2025-2026 encompasses Kaskar within the larger investigative scope rather than treating it as a discrete target.[^1] + +### Law Enforcement Actions + +No criminal prosecution specifically naming Kaskar as an organization, or charging a defendant specifically as a Kaskar member, had been publicly announced through mid-2026. Individuals affiliated with Kaskar are understood to fall within the more than 350 active FBI investigations tied to 764 and related networks reported as of April 2026, but Kaskar has not been the subject of a standalone DOJ press release or named indictment comparable to the [[764 Inferno]] prosecution of [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]] (April 2025) or the prosecution of [[Baron Cain Martin]] in Arizona. + +The closest publicly documented connection is through Cxrpse/Justin B., who has demonstrable connections to the Kaskar ecosystem and was arrested in the Netherlands on terrorism, child exploitation, and incitement charges; the Dutch case, however, proceeded under No Lives Matter charges rather than Kaskar-specific charges. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ADL. "764." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764; ISD Global. "764." https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-explainer/764/; Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "The 764 Network: A Global Threat for Child Abuse and Radicalization." https://globalextremism.org/post/764-network/; Argentino, Marc-Andre. "Understanding the Relationship Between 764 And The Com Network." https://www.maargentino.com/understanding-the-relationship-between-764-and-the-com-network/ +[^2]: Argentino, Marc-Andre. "Understanding the Relationship Between 764 And The Com Network." https://www.maargentino.com/understanding-the-relationship-between-764-and-the-com-network/ +[^3]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "Founder of No Lives Matter Arrested on Child Abuse and Terrorism Charges." https://globalextremism.org/post/founder-of-no-lives-matter-arrested-on-child-abuse-and-terrorism-charges/; Unicorn Riot. "Sextortion Coms: Inside a Vile Child Exploitation Cult Run by Nazi-Linked Teens." 2024. https://unicornriot.ninja/2024/sextortion-coms-inside-a-vile-child-exploitation-cult-run-by-nazi-linked-teens/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Maniac Murder Cult.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Maniac Murder Cult.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..af730428 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Maniac Murder Cult.md @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - MKY + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Ukraine + - NVE + - TerroristOrganization + - TheComNetwork + - SaintsCulture +start: 2017 +location: "Dnipro, Ukraine (online, global)" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Maniac Murder Cult (MKY) is a Ukrainian neo-Nazi accelerationist network whose 'Murder Points' system rewards escalating real-world violence, proscribed by the UK and Canada in 2025, with leader Michail Chkhikvishvili sentenced to 15 years in U.S. federal prison in 2026." +--- + +[[Maniac Murder Cult]] (also known as MKY, MKU, MMC, Maniacs Murder Cult, and Maniacs: Cult of Killing) is a neo-Nazi accelerationist organization founded in [[Dnipro]], [[Ukraine]], approximately 2017-2018 by [[Yegor Krasnov]] ("Maniac") when he was approximately 16 years old. It combines explicit national socialism, theistic Satanism, and extreme misanthropy into an ideology it calls [[Racial Holy War|RaHoWa]] (Racial Holy War), and it implements a tiered "Murder Points" reward system that incentivizes escalating real-world violence as a form of organizational advancement. The group's self-declared terrorist identity and its encouragement of livestreamed attacks distinguishes it analytically from purely nihilistic networks within [[The Com]] ecosystem. The UK proscribed MKY as a terrorist organization on July 2, 2025; Canada listed it alongside [[764 Network|764]] and [[Terrorgram Collective]] on December 10, 2025.[^1] + +### Origins in Dnipro + +Krasnov founded the group in Dnipro after an alleged expulsion from another far-right formation, taking approximately 15 members with him. The group's first branded content (short videos of street attacks) appeared on the Russian imageboard 2chan in 2018, then migrated to VK and [[Telegram]] in 2019. The name derives from Krasnov's alias and the group's ideological framing of murder as a spiritual and political act. + +Ukrainian authorities arrested Krasnov in 2020, after which [[Michail Chkhikvishvili]] assumed operational leadership. Chkhikvishvili, a Georgian national who used the alias "Commander Butcher," expanded the network's international reach and shifted its recruitment toward Telegram and [[Wire]]/[[Matrix]] for encrypted internal communications distinct from its public-facing channels.[^2] + +### Ideology and Murder Points System + +MKY's ideological framework combines three elements: neo-Nazi accelerationism (the belief that mass violence against Jews, racial minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals will precipitate societal collapse and enable a fascist reconstitution), theistic Satanism drawn from [[Order of Nine Angles|O9A]]-adjacent traditions, and a misanthropic exaltation of serial killers and mass murderers as exemplary figures. Venerated "saints" include the 2019 [[Brenton Tarrant|Christchurch]] attacker, [[Ted Kaczynski]] (the Unabomber), and the [[Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs]] - three Ukrainian teenagers who filmed and distributed murders in 2007. + +The "Murder Points" system operationalizes this ideology through a formal rank structure: crimes earn different point values (higher for more severe acts), with accumulated points translating to elevated rank within the network. A documented tier hierarchy means members progress from vandalism through assault to arson to terrorism and murder, with the network's internal status architecture rewarding escalation. This distinguishes MKY from the largely status-driven nihilism of other Com subgroups: MKY's violence serves both internal rank and stated ideological goals.[^3] + +### International Reach and Attributed Violence + +Though Ukrainian in origin, MKY expanded internationally through Telegram recruitment, with documented members in at least a dozen countries by 2024. Real-world violence directly attributed to MKY or members acting on its direction includes: + +[[Romania]] (2022): A 17-year-old member livestreamed the murder of an elderly woman as an MKY initiation ritual and separately injured an 82-year-old man. Romanian courts convicted the perpetrator in August 2023 to 14 years imprisonment. + +[[Turkey]] (August 2024): An 18-year-old neo-Nazi livestreamed stabbing multiple people near a mosque in [[Eskisehir]]. The attack has been attributed to MKY by researchers; it is also cited in the Canadian sentencing proceedings of [[Terrorgram Collective]] co-founder [[Matthew Althorpe]] as a Terrorgram-inspired attack, reflecting the substantial ideological overlap between these networks. + +[[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]] (January 22, 2025): [[Solomon Henderson]], 17, shot and killed student [[Josselin Corea Escalante]] at Antioch High School before dying by suicide. Henderson's manifesto cited MKY and named Chkhikvishvili specifically. Nashville Metropolitan Police Department's January 2026 investigative update concluded Henderson had no co-conspirators and that there was no evidence of direct operational direction from MKY. + +[[Sweden]] (2024): A 14-year-old known online as "Slain764" stabbed two elderly individuals; at least six additional attacks were recorded and promoted on Telegram by this individual before their arrest in September 2024. The ISD and ADL attribute this activity to the intersection of 764 and MKY networks.[^4] + +### Prosecutions and Designations + +The primary prosecution of MKY leadership was brought by the [[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] against [[Michail Chkhikvishvili]] in the Eastern District of New York. Chkhikvishvili was indicted in July 2024 for soliciting hate crimes and planning a mass casualty attack in New York City. He was arrested in [[Chisinau]], Moldova in July 2024 and extradited to the United States in May 2025. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon in May 2026. + +Yegor Krasnov, the founder, was arrested by Ukrainian authorities in 2020. His subsequent legal status under Ukrainian law has not been reported in English-language sources. + +Alongside the U.S. prosecution, the UK proscribed MKY as a terrorist organization on July 2, 2025, making membership a criminal offense in England and Wales. Canada designated MKY as a terrorist entity on December 10, 2025, in the same order that designated 764 and Terrorgram Collective.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Argentino, Marc-Andre, Gay, Arthur, and Bastin, Naomi. "Nihilism and Terror: How M.K.Y. Is Redefining Terrorism, Recruitment, and Mass Violence." CTC Sentinel, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. August/September 2024. https://ctc.westpoint.edu/nihilism-and-terror-how-m-k-y-is-redefining-terrorism-recruitment-and-mass-violence/ +[^2]: Argentino, Marc-Andre. "Brotherhood of Blood: Understanding the Origins and Trajectory of the Maniac Murder Cult." GNET, December 4, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/12/04/brotherhood-of-blood-understanding-the-origins-and-trajectory-of-the-maniac-murder-cult/ +[^3]: ADL. "764." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764 +[^4]: ADL. "Antioch, Tenn. Shooter Inspired by Broad Extremist Beliefs and Previous Mass Killers." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/antioch-tenn-shooter-inspired-broad-extremist-beliefs-and-previous-mass-killers; ISD. "From sextortion to violence: The threat of the 764 network in the US." https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/from-sextortion-to-violence-the-evolving-threat-of-the-764-network-in-the-us/ +[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Georgian National Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Soliciting Hate Crimes and Planning Mass Casualty Attack." May 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/georgian-national-sentenced-15-years-prison-soliciting-hate-crimes-and-planning-mass; Government of Canada. "Government of Canada Lists Four New Terrorist Entities." December 10, 2025. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/12/government-of-canada-lists-four-new-terrorist-entities0.html diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Martinet Press.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Martinet Press.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d67459ec --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Martinet Press.md @@ -0,0 +1,99 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - O9A + - TemplovBlood + - NeoNazi + - Publishing + - Satanism + - AtomwaffenDivision + - FBIInformant + - USA + - SouthCarolina +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Martinet Press is the Tempel ov Blood publishing imprint operated by Joshua Caleb Sutter and Jillian Hoy, which published Iron Gates in October 2014, more than a decade into Sutter's tenure as a paid FBI informant, and whose operations were partially funded by those informant payments." +start: 2014 +location: "Lexington, South Carolina" +--- + +[[Martinet Press]] is the publishing arm of [[Tempel ov Blood]], the primary American [[nexion]] of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A), operated by [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] and his wife [[Jillian Hoy]] from their base in [[Lexington, South Carolina]]. The press published the O9A texts that reached the widest American extremist audience - principally the ultraviolent novel *[[Iron Gates]]* (2014), along with *Liber 333* and *Bluebird* - which were subsequently adopted as required reading within [[Atomwaffen Division]] following Sutter's 2017 infiltration of that organization, and distributed through [[Terrorgram Collective]] channels into the broader accelerationist ecosystem. + +In a documented paradox that has received significant attention from researchers and journalists, Martinet Press's operations were partially funded by FBI informant payments made to Sutter between 2003 and at least 2021. The FBI paid Sutter more than $140,000 for intelligence work, including infiltrating AWD, while those funds partly supported the publication of texts that radicalized the AWD members Sutter was being paid to monitor.[^1] + +### Publications + +Martinet Press's primary publications, all drawn from O9A source material and produced under Tempel ov Blood's collective authorship, include: + +*Iron Gates* (October 18, 2014; ISBN 9780692306581; 406 pp.): An ultraviolent novel depicting a post-collapse race war and mass genocide, framed within O9A's [[Insight Roles]] doctrine as spiritually necessary transgression. Became required AWD reading after Sutter's infiltration; its distribution through Terrorgram channels gave it reach far beyond the original O9A audience. The book is available through the [[Internet Archive]] in full text and was carried by multiple commercial booksellers including WORD Bookstore, ThriftBooks, and Better World Books. + +*Liber 333*: An O9A initiation text containing practical instructions for the Seven Fold Way, including descriptions of the Insight Roles doctrine and guidance for the initiate's progression through transgressive acts. + +*Bluebird*: An O9A text addressing specific operational themes; circulated alongside *Iron Gates* within AWD and through Terrorgram. + +Additional works published in the 2019-2020 period include *Choronzon IV* (April 2019), *Goetia Daemonium* (June 2019), *Egregoroi* (July 2020), and *PREDATOR* issues (a Tempel ov Blood restricted circular).[^6] + +All three primary texts were cited in federal prosecutions as evidence of defendants' ideological commitments and as material that law enforcement linked to radicalization and incitement to violence.[^2] + +### Publication Timeline vs. Informant Relationship + +The relationship between Martinet Press and Sutter's FBI informant status is a matter of documented chronology: + +- February 2003: Sutter arrested in [[Uwchlan Township, Pennsylvania]] by [[Philadelphia JTTF]] +- May 2003: Guilty plea entered, [[United States v. Sutter (2003)]], 2:03-cr-00158-ER-1 ([[Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]) +- 2004: Released from federal prison; informant deployment as "deep-cover" source begins +- 2014: *Iron Gates* published by Martinet Press (October 18, 2014; ISBN 9780692306581; 406 pp.) +- 2017: Tempel ov Blood members integrated into AWD; Sutter joins AWD as "swissdiscipline" +- February 7, 2018: FBI payment period specifically associated with the AWD investigation begins ($78,133.20 in payments + $4,378.60 expenses) +- 2019-2020: Martinet Press publishes additional works including *Choronzon IV*, *Goetia Daemonium*, *Egregoroi*, and *PREDATOR* issues[^6] +- August 2021: Sutter's informant status publicly revealed through Cole suppression motion +- 2022: Rolling Stone reports Sutter "is a free man and still selling Satanist books"[^7] + +*Iron Gates* was therefore published eleven years after Sutter began cooperating with the FBI. The book, and the publishing apparatus around it, existed entirely within the informant relationship. + +### The FBI Paradox + +Sutter was recruited as a paid FBI informant following his 2003 arrest on weapons charges. His FBI handler, Special Agent [[Bill Moser]] of the [[FBI Columbia Field Office|Columbia, South Carolina field office]], paid him a total documented sum of more than $140,000 between 2003 and 2021. Of this total, approximately $78,133 was specifically documented as payment for work conducted from February 7, 2018 onward - work that included Sutter's activities inside AWD as "swissdiscipline." + +The court documents disclosing Sutter's informant status, obtained and published by investigative journalist [[Ali Winston]] in the federal case against AWD leader [[Kaleb Cole]], showed that during the same period the FBI was paying Sutter for intelligence work inside AWD, Sutter and Hoy were using Martinet Press to publish and distribute *Iron Gates* and other O9A texts to AWD members. The FBI's awareness of the press's operations during this period, and any internal discussion of whether funding the publisher of radicalizing material was consistent with its informant mission, has not been established in available documents.[^1] + +### Court Description of the Publishing Operation + +In the August 13, 2021 [[motion to suppress]] filed in [[United States v. Shea et al.]], 2:20-cr-00032 ([[Western District of Washington|W.D. Wash.]]), Cole's defense described the CI, without using Sutter's name, as: "a convicted felon and currently owns and operates a publishing company that distributes white supremacist writings." This language appeared in defense papers that the government read and responded to.[^3] + +The government's response focused on the legal sufficiency of the warrant affidavit. It did not assert that the CI's publishing activities were authorized by the FBI, did not dispute the characterization of the press as distributing "white supremacist writings," and did not address whether the FBI knew about or supervised the publishing operations. Judge [[John C. Coughenour]]'s ruling denying the suppression motion similarly addressed credibility and warrant sufficiency but not the substance of the publishing activities.[^4] + +The affidavit itself, which was attached to the motion as Exhibit A, had not previously been public; it was the first time the original search warrant application against Cole's home was released. The motion describes the CI's material contributions to the investigation without disclosing that the same CI was actively publishing radicalization material. + +### Authorized or Not: The Unresolved Question + +No document in the public record, whether from PACER, the Cole trial proceedings, the FBI, or any congressional inquiry, establishes that the FBI explicitly authorized Martinet Press's operations as part of Sutter's informant tasking, or that the FBI explicitly prohibited them and Sutter proceeded anyway. + +The court record establishes two facts: first, that during the informant relationship the FBI paid Sutter money while he operated the press; second, that the affidavit used to obtain the Cole search warrant omitted disclosure of the CI's publishing activities. Neither fact establishes authorization or prohibition. + +Rolling Stone reported in 2021 that the FBI "declined to comment on whether it knew about or approved Sutter's publishing activities."[^1] This non-response is the public record's endpoint. + +### Martinet Press After Revelation + +Martinet Press continued operating after Sutter's informant status was publicly confirmed in August 2021. The WordPress presence at martinetpress.wordpress.com remained active as of 2022, and the press continued to list books for sale. The press's protonmail contact (martinetpress@protonmail.ch) remained published.[^6] + +### Distribution Through Terrorgram + +Martinet Press publications achieved their widest distribution not through direct sale or the O9A organizational network but through Terrorgram Collective's Telegram channels, which distributed them alongside other accelerationist propaganda to an audience that included individuals with no prior AWD or O9A connection. This secondary distribution made Martinet Press texts - especially *Iron Gates* - standard reference points within the broader [[Siege Culture]] and [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism|nihilistic violent extremism]] ecosystem, contributing to the ideological environment in which the [[764 Network|764]] network and its predecessor [[CVLT]] operated, and shaping the content cited in the manifestos of self-radicalizing attackers including the perpetrators of the [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting]].[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Ali Winston. Investigative reporting on Joshua Caleb Sutter and FBI informant payments, derived from Kaleb Cole federal court documents. 2021. Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ + +[^2]: ICCT. "Siege Culture After Siege: Anatomy of a Neo-Nazi Terrorist Doctrine." https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2022-12/siege-culture-neo-nazi-terrorist-doctrine.pdf + +[^3]: Defense motion to suppress and Exhibit A (original search warrant affidavit), United States v. Shea et al., 2:20-cr-00032 (W.D. Wash.), August 13, 2021. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/kaleb-cole-august-13-2021-motion-to-suppress-1 + +[^4]: Order Denying Motion to Suppress, United States v. Cole, Case No. CR20-0032-JCC (W.D. Wash., August 30, 2021). Leagle.com: infdco20210901708. + +[^5]: ISD Global. Research reports on Terrorgram and Martinet Press distribution networks. + +[^6]: Martinet Press WordPress site. https://martinetpress.wordpress.com/ (accessed 2026-05-22). + +[^7]: Winston, Ali. "Plea Deal in the Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers," *Rolling Stone,* 2022. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/neo-nazi-1378280/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Misanthropic Division.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Misanthropic Division.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..45042828 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Misanthropic Division.md @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - NeoNazi + - Paramilitary + - Accelerationism + - International + - Ukraine + - Belarus + - Russia +start: 2013 +location: "Belarus/Ukraine (online, global)" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Misanthropic Division is a transnational neo-Nazi organization founded in Belarus in 2013 by Dmitry Pavlov, declared extremist by Russia in 2015, with documented cells in 19 countries and connections to Ukraine's Azov Battalion and the broader accelerationist network." +--- + +[[Misanthropic Division]] (M.D., also known as Division Phoenix following a 2016 rebranding, and in Russian-language usage as M.K.U., standing for Maniaki: Kult Ubiyts or "Maniacs: Cult of Killers") is a transnational neo-Nazi organization founded in October 2013 by [[Dmitry Pavlov]], a [[Belarus|Belarusian]] citizen. The organization combines neo-Nazism, antisemitism, neo-pagan National Socialism (the motto "Toten fur Wotan," meaning "Kill for Odin/Wotan"), Evolianism (the esoteric fascist philosophy of Julius Evola), and extreme misanthropy. It operates as a decentralized network with no rigid central structure, functioning through autonomous cells and affiliated organizations using the M.D. brand. By 2017 it had documented cells in at least 19 countries. It was declared an extremist organization by Russian authorities on July 17, 2015. Three of its members were convicted on terrorism-related extremism charges in Russia in June 2017. A Misanthropic Division Telegram channel with over 4,300 participants was documented in the 2025 federal case against [[Nikita Casap]] in Wisconsin.[^1] + +### Origins and Donbas Period + +Pavlov founded the organization in 2013, initially operating primarily through [[VKontakte]] (the Russian social network), where M.D. chapters posted content advocating racial violence and celebrating neo-Nazi imagery. The organization took on a more international and militarized character following the 2014 Euromaidan revolution in [[Ukraine]], when some M.D. members joined the conflict in [[Donbas]] on the Ukrainian side, fighting alongside [[Azov Battalion]] forces. The Azov formation subsequently took internal steps to limit M.D.'s influence within its ranks after the relationship became a political liability, though individual M.D. members had already used the association to advance the organization's international recruitment. + +### Ideology and Structure + +The organization's ideological framework combines several distinct elements: neo-Nazi racial politics and antisemitism, neo-paganism centered on Norse and Germanic symbolism (the "Toten fur Wotan" motto), Evolianism (the occult-inflected fascism of Julius Evola, which intersects with [[Order of Nine Angles|O9A]]-adjacent traditions), and a misanthropic glorification of violence as inherently valuable. Researcher Natalia Yudina documented that M.D. has "neither a rigid structure nor permanent leaders," operating instead through autonomous cells that use the brand and ideological framework independently. + +### International Connections + +By 2017 M.D. had cells or affiliated organizations in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Germany, France, Poland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, and multiple South American countries. Its connections included [[White Rex]] (the neo-Nazi clothing and MMA organization used as a European white supremacist networking platform) and, through the broader Iron March network, organizations including [[National Action]] (UK), [[CasaPound]] (Italy), and [[Feuerkrieg Division]] (which was also an [[Atomwaffen Division]] affiliate). Italian recruiter Francesco Saverio Fontana made documented visits to the UK to recruit for the M.D. and Azov-adjacent foreign fighter circuit.[^2] + +### Russian Prosecutions + +The Krasnoyarsk Territorial Court declared M.D. an extremist organization on July 17, 2015, banning all activities in Russia. Criminal proceedings followed in multiple Russian jurisdictions. In Moscow, three members were tried and sentenced by the Moscow District Military Court in June 2017: Vitaly Tsaruk received 3 years and 2 months in a penal colony, Victor Pekhterev received 3 years and 6 months, and Cyril (Kirill) Khalepo received 3 years in a penal colony settlement. All were convicted of nine instances of terrorist and extremist activity, specifically for creating and administering VKontakte groups publishing content advocating racial violence. Russia's Supreme Court upheld the sentences in September 2017. Separate convictions were recorded in Stavropol Territory, and criminal cases were opened against M.D.'s alleged founder Pavlov and against [[Ruslan Pavlyuk]], the alleged head of the Rostov-on-Don cell, in 2016-2017.[^3] + +### U.S. Case Documentation + +A Misanthropic Division Telegram channel with over 4,300 participants was one of at least five extremist Telegram channels that [[Nikita Casap]] of Waukesha, Wisconsin was active in prior to his February 2025 murders of his mother and stepfather and his planned assassination of President Trump. The FBI's March 18, 2025 search warrant affidavit identified his M.D. channel membership alongside his documented [[Terrorgram Collective]] publication citations and [[Order of Nine Angles]] affiliation. The specific nature of his engagement within the M.D. channel context versus those other affiliations was not separately assessed in public court documents.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Euromaidan Press / REFT & Light. "Misanthropic Division: A Neo-Nazi Movement from Ukraine and Russia." https://reftlight.euromaidanpress.com/2016/09/30/misanthropic-division-a-neo-nazi-movement-from-ukraine-and-russia/; CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the Skull Mask Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^2]: Hope Not Hate. "Russian court sentences members of a neo-Nazi terror group also active in the UK." June 2017. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2017/06/22/russian-court-sentences-members-neo-nazi-group-also-active-uk/ +[^3]: RAPSI. "Misanthropic Division members sentenced to up to 3.5 years." June 2017. https://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20170620/279013245.html; RAPSI. "Misanthropic Division members' sentence for extremism upheld." September 2017. https://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20170907/280069915.html +[^4]: ProPublica / PBS FRONTLINE. "White Supremacist Terrorgram Network Allegedly Inspired a Teen to Murder His Parents." https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-assassionation-plot-nikita-casap-terrorgram-wisconsin-frontline diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/National Action.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/National Action.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e2fd6990 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/National Action.md @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - UK + - TerroristOrganization + - IronMarch + - Proscribed +start: 2013 +end: 2016 +location: "United Kingdom" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "National Action was a British neo-Nazi organization proscribed in December 2016 as the UK's first banned terrorist group since World War II, producing more than a dozen criminal convictions for membership and terrorism offenses between 2018 and 2022." +--- + +[[National Action]] was a British neo-Nazi organization founded in late 2013 by [[Alex Davies]] and [[Benjamin Raymond]], both university students at the time. It was the first organization outside [[Northern Ireland]] to be proscribed as a terrorist group in the [[United Kingdom]] since World War II, banned by Home Secretary [[Amber Rudd]] on December 16, 2016 under the Terrorism Act 2000 after the organization publicly celebrated the murder of Labour MP [[Jo Cox]] and made death threats to multiple other left-wing politicians. More than a dozen individuals were convicted of membership in or facilitation of National Action in trials spanning 2018 to 2022, with sentences ranging from 3 years to life imprisonment.[^1] + +### Founding and Iron March Connection + +Davies and Raymond founded National Action in late 2013. Raymond was an active administrator on the [[Iron March]] neo-fascist web forum and National Action was the first offline organization to grow directly out of Iron March, making it a model and predecessor for the transnational accelerationist network that would later produce [[Atomwaffen Division]] and its international affiliates. In 2015, AWD founder [[Brandon Russell]] personally visited London and met Raymond in a documented encounter that linked the British and American accelerationist ecosystems directly.[^2] + +### Proscription + +The primary catalysts for proscription were National Action's public celebration of the June 2016 murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by [[Thomas Mair]] and subsequent explicit death threats to other MPs. Earlier incidents had already drawn police attention: member [[Garron Helm]] was sentenced in October 2014 to four weeks in prison for sending an antisemitic tweet to MP [[Luciana Berger]]. Zack Davies, identified by police as a National Action member, was convicted in September 2015 of the attempted murder of Sikh dental student [[Sarandev Bhambra]] in Mold, Flintshire and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 14 years. + +On December 16, 2016, Rudd described National Action as "a racist, antisemitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology." Successor organizations [[System Resistance Network]] (SRN) and [[Scottish Dawn]] were separately proscribed in 2017; the [[Sonnenkrieg Division]] (SKD), founded by former SRN leader [[Andrew Dymock]], was proscribed in 2019.[^1] + +### Prosecutions + +#### Wave 1 (Old Bailey, July 2018) +[[Christopher Lythgoe]] (31, Warrington), the post-proscription leader: convicted of membership, sentenced to 8 years (Judge: Mr Justice Jay). [[Matthew Hankinson]]: convicted of membership, sentenced to 6 years. + +#### Jack Renshaw (separate proceedings, 2018-2019) +Renshaw pleaded guilty on June 12, 2018 to preparing an act of terrorism (planning to murder MP [[Rosie Cooper]] with a machete as a prelude to suicide, intended to prevent the police investigation into his child sex offences from proceeding) and threatening to murder the detective investigating him. He was also convicted in 2018 of four counts of inciting children aged 13-15 to engage in sexual activity. On May 17, 2019, Mrs Justice McGowan sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years.[^3] + +#### Wave 2 (Birmingham Crown Court, December 2018) +[[Adam Thomas]] (21, Banbury): convicted of membership and possessing terrorist information, sentenced to 6 years 6 months. [[Claudia Patatas]] (38, Banbury, Thomas's partner, who had named their child after Hitler): convicted of membership, sentenced to 5 years. [[Daniel Bogunovic]] (26, Leicester): convicted of membership, sentenced to 6 years 4 months. [[Darren Fletcher]] (28, Wednesfield): pleaded guilty, sentenced to 5 years. [[Nathan Pryke]] (26, Cambridge): pleaded guilty, sentenced to 5 years 5 months. [[Joel Wilmore]] (24, Hazel Grove, Stockport): pleaded guilty to membership and possession of terrorist information, sentenced to 5 years 10 months. + +#### Wave 3 (Birmingham Crown Court, June 2020) +[[Alice Cutter]] (23, Sowerby Bridge): convicted of membership, sentenced to 3 years (Judge: Paul Farrer QC). [[Mark Jones]] (25, Sowerby Bridge): convicted of membership, sentenced to 5 years 6 months. [[Garry Jack]] (24, Birmingham): convicted of membership, sentenced to 4 years 6 months. [[Connor Scothern]] (19, Nottingham): convicted of membership, detained in youth custody 18 months. + +#### Wave 4 (Central Criminal Court, 2021) +[[Benjamin Hannam]] (22), serving Metropolitan Police constable of Edmonton, north London, a probationary officer: convicted on 1 April 2021 at the [[Central Criminal Court]] (Old Bailey) of National Action membership under section 11 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]], two counts of fraud by false representation under sections 1 and 2 of the [[Fraud Act 2006]] (lying on his Metropolitan Police Service application form and vetting form about BNP or similar organisation membership), two counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (Anders Breivik's manifesto and a knife-attack instructional manual, both found on a USB stick at his home), and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child under section 62 of the [[Coroners and Justice Act 2009]]. He pleaded guilty to the child image count. Sentenced by Judge [[Anthony Leonard QC]] on 4 May 2021 to four years and four months plus one year extended licence. A [[Serious Crime Prevention Order]] restricting internet use was imposed for two years post-release. A 10-year terrorism notification period was also imposed. + +Hannam became the first serving UK police officer convicted of a terrorism-related offence. He was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police via an accelerated gross misconduct hearing in April 2021, prior to sentencing. + +Hannam had attended his first National Action meeting on 6 March 2016 at a pub in Paddington, joining the London branch. He continued with the organisation through summer 2017, including attending a post-proscription meeting in [[Swindon]] in January 2017, confirmed by CCTV footage, travel records, and financial transactions. He registered on Iron March under the username "Anglisc" shortly after joining National Action in March 2016. He applied to join the Metropolitan Police on 19 July 2017, falsely denying BNP-or-similar membership on both his application and vetting forms. His school had raised internal concerns about his views on immigration but was not contacted by the vetting unit. + +He was identified by [[Counter Terrorism Command]] in February 2020 through the November 2019 Iron March database leak, and arrested on 5 March 2020. The prosecution described him as an "active recruiter" for National Action's London branch.[^5] + +#### Wave 5 (Winchester Crown Court, May 2022) +[[Alex Davies]], co-founder (Swansea): found guilty on May 17, 2022 of membership between December 17, 2016 and September 27, 2017, sentenced to 8 years 6 months.[^4] + +### O9A Integration via Ryan Fleming + +The principal documented channel through which [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) ideology entered National Action was [[Ryan Fleming]], a regional organiser for the Yorkshire branch who simultaneously led the O9A-affiliated [[Drakon Covenant]] nexion. Operating under the pseudonym "A.A. Morain," Fleming wrote and published O9A texts including *Scithain: Vampyric Witchcraft of the Drakon Covenant* and *Codex Aristarchus*, with the latter's foreword contributed by a figure from the American nexion [[Tempel ov Blood]]. Police searches of National Action members' properties during the prosecution waves recovered materials bearing O9A symbols. Fleming was convicted of child sexual abuse in 2012, 2017, and again in February 2021, in each instance for offences against minors.[^6] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Members of banned British neo-Nazi group jailed." 2018. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/members-banned-british-neo-nazi-group-jailed; Home Office. "National Action proscription announcement." December 16, 2016. +[^2]: CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^3]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Life sentence for white supremacist MP murder plot." May 2019. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/life-sentence-white-supremacist-mp-murder-plot +[^4]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Co-founder of right-wing terror group convicted." May 2022. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/co-founder-right-wing-terror-group-convicted; Counter Terrorism Policing. "Year in review 2018 - National Action convictions." https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/draft-a-year-in-review-2018-national-action-convictions/ +[^5]: R v Hannam, Sentencing Remarks, Central Criminal Court, 4 May 2021. Judge Anthony Leonard QC. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/R-v-Hannam-Setencing-Remarks.pdf; CPS. "Former police officer jailed for National Action membership." 4 May 2021. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/former-police-officer-jailed-national-action-membership +[^6]: HOPE not hate. "Jailed! National Action paedophile behind bars." 29 July 2017. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2017/07/29/jailed-national-action-paedophile-behind-bars/; Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan). Twitter, 11 February 2021. https://x.com/Jake_Hanrahan/status/1360317804600324096 diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/National Socialist Resistance Front.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/National Socialist Resistance Front.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d59dde71 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/National Socialist Resistance Front.md @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - AtomwaffenDivision + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - USA +summary: "The National Socialist Resistance Front was the final organizational iteration of the Atomwaffen Division lineage, founded by Ryan Hatfield in September 2022 as a successor to the National Socialist Order and formally dissolved in November 2024." +start: 2022 +end: 2024 +location: "United States" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +--- + +The National Socialist Resistance Front (NSRF) was the fourth organizational name in a lineage running from [[Atomwaffen Division]] (AWD, 2015) through AWD's dissolution, the [[National Socialist Order]] (NSO, 2020), and a split within NSO to the NSRF (2022). It was founded and led by [[Ryan Hatfield]] (alias "Ryan Arthur") and operated primarily through the propaganda website [[American Futurist]]. NSRF was formally dissolved on November 8, 2024. + +### Founding + +On September 7, 2022, American Futurist severed ties with the NSO. On September 12, 2022, Hatfield announced the formation of NSRF via a blog post, citing displeasure with [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) ideological infiltration of NSO as the reason for the organizational break. The NSRF explicitly identified itself as a return to the original AWD mission before the [[Tempel ov Blood]] infiltration that began in 2017. + +### Russell's Recruitment Activity + +AWD founder [[Brandon Russell]], then on [[supervised release]] in [[Orlando, Florida]] following his August 2021 prison release, attempted to recruit a confidential FBI informant ([[Christopher Jackson (Baltimore CHS)|Christopher Jackson]]) into NSRF in fall 2022, telling Jackson that prospective members included individuals from Maryland and the Carolinas. This recruitment activity was presented at Russell's 2025 trial as evidence of his continued organizational involvement in the AWD successor network during the same period he was planning the [[2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy|Baltimore substation conspiracy]].[^1] + +### Dissolution + +Ryan Hatfield announced NSRF's formal dissolution on November 8, 2024, via American Futurist, citing organizational difficulties and characterizing the dissolution as the end of the AWD lineage as an organizational structure, while maintaining that the ideological project would continue in dispersed form. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: SPLC Hatewatch, Hannah Gais. "Leaked Chats, Documents Show Atomwaffen Founder's Path to Terror Plot." February 2023. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/leaked-chats-documents-show-atomwaffen-founders-path-terror-plot/; Tracking Terrorism. "National Socialist Order Announces Reformation as National Socialist Resistance Front." September 12, 2022. https://trackingterrorism.org/chatter/national-socialist-order-nso-reforms-as-national-socialist-resistance-front-nsrf-trac/; Counter Extremism Project. "Atomwaffen Division / National Socialist Order / National Socialist Resistance Front." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/atomwaffen-division-national-socialist-order diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/No Lives Matter.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/No Lives Matter.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f2cf8e12 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/No Lives Matter.md @@ -0,0 +1,138 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - TheCom + - 764 + - Terrorism + - OnlineExtremism + - Netherlands + - Sweden +start: "2022" +summary: "No Lives Matter (NLM) is a misanthropic, accelerationist violent extremist network founded by Dutch national Justin B. (alias 'CXRPSE') as a 764 splinter group, linked to stabbing attacks across Europe and designated a terrorist organization by Dutch prosecutors." +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +--- + +No Lives Matter (NLM) is a violent extremist network operating within the broader criminal ecosystem known as [[The Com]], described by [[Wired]] in March 2025 as "a particularly violent splinter group within the extremist crime network known as Com and 764." Founded by a Dutch national identified in Dutch court proceedings only as Justin B. (alias CXRPSE), NLM emerged from the [[764]] child exploitation network and distinguished itself by prioritizing real-world physical violence over sextortion. The Dutch [[Public Prosecution Service]] designated NLM a terrorist organization, and its activities have been linked to stabbing sprees in [[Sweden]], disrupted plots in [[Italy]], and law enforcement investigations across [[Europe]] and the [[United States]]. + +### Background: The Com Ecosystem + +NLM cannot be understood apart from [[The Com]] (short for "The Community"), a decentralized, transnational network of interconnected chatrooms, groups, and individuals engaged in wide-ranging criminal activity. Researchers divide The Com into three operational pillars: + +- Cyber Com (also called Hacker Com): The network's historical origin point, focused on cell phone fraud, corporate computer intrusions, and large-scale hacking. [[Scattered Spider]] is the most prominent group associated with this pillar. +- Extortion Com: Groups that conduct sextortion and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) operations; [[764]] was founded in this pillar. +- Offline Com: Groups that embrace accelerationist and neo-Nazi ideologies and emphasize physical, real-world violence. NLM and Maniac Murder Cult (MKY, also written M.K.Y.) are the primary groups in this pillar. + +[[764]] itself was founded circa 2020 by an American teenager in Stephenville, Texas, whose postal code was 764 - the group's namesake. He is now serving an 80-year prison sentence for child pornography offenses. NLM emerged as a splinter from 764, eventually breaking formally with the parent network: in May 2024, NLM announced on Telegram that its alliance with 764 "had ended a while ago," citing distrust of 764's current leadership and NLM's desire to distance itself from sextortion and CSAM operations.[^1] + +### Founding and Leadership + +NLM was founded by a figure known online as CXRPSE, a name tattooed on his wrist. In Dutch court proceedings, he was identified only as Justin B., a 25-year-old man from [[Eindhoven]], [[Netherlands]]. His full surname has not been publicly disclosed under Dutch legal practice, which routinely uses only initials for criminal defendants. No credible source has reported his full surname as of the time of writing. + +The precise founding date of NLM is not definitively established in the open-source record. The network appears to have coalesced circa 2022-2023. The third edition of a document called the "Haters Handbook," released in 2023, already references alliances between MKY, NLM, and Satanic neo-Nazi accelerationist groups, suggesting NLM was operationally active by that point. Justin B.'s own statements in Dutch police interviews confirmed he founded NLM, though his defense argued at the October 2025 preliminary hearing that others built the organization around him and his online persona as he became its de facto figurehead.[^2] + +Justin B. relinquished operational ownership of NLM at some point around 2023, according to reporting in the Dutch press. He told Dutch police he had converted to Christianity and had "just gotten his life together" when police raided his Eindhoven home in late July 2025. + +### Ideology + +NLM's core ideology combines radical nihilism, misanthropy, and accelerationism. The group's name is a deliberate inversion of the Black Lives Matter movement, repurposed as a statement that no human life has value. NLM explicitly rejects ideological consistency, embracing violence as an end in itself rather than as a means to political goals - a characteristic that researchers at the [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] (ISD) have classified under the broader category of "nihilistic violence," defined as violent acts driven by a misanthropic worldview rather than coherent political ideology. + +NLM has drawn ideological material from neo-Nazism, Satanism, and the true crime community, though it does not maintain doctrinal fidelity to any of these. A publication released in partnership with NLM and signed with the alias "Nepal" stated the group's purpose as "the purification of all living things through endless attacks committed by the cult." NLM has glorified mass shooters including [[Brenton Tarrant]], the perpetrator of the 2019 [[Christchurch mosque attacks]] that killed 51 people.[^3] + +### Publications and Tactical Guides + +NLM has produced a series of written operational documents distributed primarily via [[Telegram]]: + +- Terror Guide (released June 2024): Instructions for constructing improvised explosive devices, poisons, and incendiary tools; operational security (OPSEC) practices; and weapons selection. Draws on material from Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Anarchist Cookbook, and the IRA Green Book. +- Manhunt Guide (released June 2024): Instructions for stalking, selecting, and attacking victims; OPSEC practices including wearing disposable clothing, shaving body hair, and using duct tape to seal gloves and sleeves to evade forensic detection; "manhunt requirements" including the recording of "brutal" beatings. +- Kill Guide: A streamlined operational text covering knife attacks, vehicle assaults, and the filming of killings. Borrows instructional material from jihadist and paramilitary sources. +- NLM x 764 Classified: A document forging alliance with the 764 network and combining calls for murder with psychological manipulation techniques. +- Evil Has No Limit: An additional propaganda and ideological text. +- Haters Handbook (multiple editions): A broader ideological-operational hybrid document; the third edition (2023) references NLM's alliance network. + +The [[New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness]] (NJOHSP) issued an unclassified threat assessment on August 21, 2024, specifically addressing NLM's publication of these tactical guides and the group's updated extremist messaging. The NJOHSP bulletin noted that NLM operates primarily via Telegram, partners with white racially motivated extremists (WRME), and that the July 2024 update to group entry requirements on NLM's Telegram channel specified that prospective members must attack "the mundane," commit arson, or commit vandalism as entry acts.[^4] + +### Recruitment and Operations + +NLM recruits primarily through [[Telegram]] channels with limited content moderation, though [[Discord]] has also been used in affiliated networks. Recruitment targets vulnerable young people, often boys aged 11-17. The group operates through a status economy: members commit and document acts of violence, upload recordings to NLM and 764 chatrooms to gain standing, and use the resulting footage as propaganda to attract further recruits. + +Entry requirements escalate: documented acts range from vandalism and arson through beatings and stabbings to murder and mass murder. Recording and livestreaming attacks is a core requirement. This documentation-as-status dynamic, which researchers have compared to the "Columbine Effect" of copycat inspiration, is the mechanism by which NLM converted online activity into real-world violence across multiple countries.[^5] + +In July 2024, NLM announced a formal alliance with Mordwaffen Division (MWD), a European neo-Nazi group. The Swedish branch of NLM operates under the name Mordwaffen ("mord" is Swedish for "murder"). NLM has also maintained ties to Maniac Murder Cult (MKY/M.K.Y.), a Ukrainian-origin nihilistic network founded circa 2017-2018 by the pseudonymous "Egor Yakovlev" (identified by Russian authorities as Yegor Krasnov, a Ukrainian national). NLM is described in some analyses as the English-language hub of MKY's international network.[^6] + +### Relationship to 764 and Scattered Spider + +NLM is distinct from 764 in operational focus: 764 centers on sextortion and coercion into CSAM as its core criminal activity, while NLM centers on real-world physical violence and the glorification of mass casualty attacks. NLM formally severed its alliance with 764 in May 2024. Both networks exist within The Com's broader Offline Com pillar, however, and personnel overlap has been documented. + +[[Scattered Spider]] operates in The Com's Cyber Com pillar and has no direct documented operational relationship with NLM. The connection is structural: both are products of the same decentralized Com ecosystem, not affiliated organizations with shared leadership or operational coordination. Researchers at SANS have noted that Cyber Com, Extortion Com, and Offline Com share cultural markers and personnel pipelines, but NLM's specific activities are not cyber-focused and no credible source has documented a direct Scattered Spider-NLM operational link.[^7] + +### Documented Violence + +#### Sweden - Hässelby, Stockholm (July and September 2024) +A 14-year-old boy, known online as "Slain764," who claimed to lead the Swedish NLM cell operating under the name Mordwaffen, carried out multiple unprovoked knife attacks in the Hässelby suburb of [[Stockholm]]. Swedish state broadcaster SVT reported at least six to eight separate attacks in the area. Documented incidents include: +- An attempted murder of an elderly woman in July 2024. +- An attempted murder of an 80-year-old man in September 2024, who was stabbed multiple times, suffered a punctured lung, and was hospitalized. The victim later described himself as "grateful to be alive." +All attacks were filmed and uploaded to Telegram to gain status within NLM and 764 networks. Because the attacker was under 15 years of age at the time, he could not be held criminally responsible under Swedish law. An administrative court ordered him placed into care under Sweden's Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act. Swedish prosecutors classified the case as terrorism-related due to its intent to spread public fear.[^8] + +#### Sweden - Borås (January 2025) +A separate 14-year-old boy with documented connections to 764 and NLM stabbed a woman in the back while she was walking her dog. The attack was livestreamed on the internet. The attacker later confessed during an evidence hearing at Borås District Court. Prosecutor Louise Bremander confirmed the boy's connections to both 764 and NLM. The attacker told police he had difficulty making friends and wanted to gain status in the online group, and claimed other group members had pressured him to commit the attack. He was subsequently found guilty of the assault. The case has been examined in the context of The Com's cross-border influence on Nordic youth.[^9] + +#### Other Jurisdictions +ISD research linked nihilistic violence subcultures including NLM to at least four school shooters and five disrupted school shooting plots, as well as a foiled plot in Italy involving a 15-year-old who planned to murder a homeless person and livestream it. A man in Virginia was arrested in possession of approximately 150 explosive devices; his backpack displayed a "#NoLivesMatter" patch, indicating ideological alignment. The FBI has stated it opened more than 250 investigations into related cases spanning all 55 of its field offices across the United States.[^10] + +### Arrest and Prosecution of Justin B. + +In late July 2025, a specialized Dutch police unit raided Justin B.'s home in [[Eindhoven]] and arrested him. Police found footage of extreme violence on his data carriers, including a video he had forwarded of a person being shot in the head with the accompanying message: "I really want to do that to someone's head. Brain on my shoes, everything." He also glorified multiple mass shooters on his devices.[^2] + +Justin B. was remanded into pre-trial detention at Penitentiaire Inrichting (PI) Vught, a maximum-security prison facility in the [[Netherlands]] with a dedicated wing for terrorism-related suspects and convicts. + +#### October 28, 2025 - First Public Preliminary Hearing, Rotterdam +Justin B. appeared for his first public hearing in the extra-secured courtroom in Rotterdam, where terrorism cases are heard. His attorney admitted on the record that his client was "CXRPSE," confirming the alias. Justin B. himself stated he had left the Com shortly before his arrest, and claimed he had converted to Christianity and had "just gotten his life together" when police arrived. + +The [[Dutch Public Prosecution Service]] (Openbaar Ministerie, OM) presented the following formal suspicions against B.: +- Founding and leading No Lives Matter as a terrorist organization +- Instructing victims to commit self-harm +- Participation in or facilitation of animal crushing +- Distribution of extreme violent and terrorist material +- Production and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) + +The OM characterized NLM as "a terrorist organization aimed at committing or commissioning murder and other serious violence." Prosecutors cited B.'s glorification of [[Brenton Tarrant]] and other mass killers. + +B.'s defense argued that he had a history of mental health problems since youth, that others had built NLM's structure around him and his online persona, and that he was not the active operational leader the prosecution characterized him as.[^2] + +#### Expanded Charges (March 2026) +The OM subsequently expanded the indictment against Justin B. to include: rape of an underage ex-girlfriend between November 2019 and June 2020; possession, creation, and distribution of child pornography in May 2020; and forcing a girl to submit to indecent acts later in 2020. These charges preceded NLM's formation and concern personal conduct rather than organizational leadership. The trial was scheduled to continue in June 2026.[^11] + +As of the time of writing, no subsequent court proceedings beyond the October 28, 2025 preliminary hearing and the March 2026 expanded charge filing have been reported in English-language sources. Justin B. remains in pre-trial detention at PI Vught. + +### Other Arrests + +No Lives Matter members beyond Justin B. have been arrested in connection with NLM-specific charges. The broader 764 network has seen extensive law enforcement action: between 2020 and 2025, 191 members of 764 or affiliated groups across 28 countries were arrested for sextortion, CSAM possession, or violent attacks. The two Swedish teenage attackers described above were subject to administrative rather than criminal proceedings due to their ages. No other named NLM members have been reported as arrested on NLM-specific terrorism charges as of this writing.[^6] + +### Academic and Policy Research + +The following institutional analyses of NLM are cited in the secondary literature: + +- Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD): Multiple reports including "Terror without ideology? The rise of nihilistic violence" (2025) and "From sextortion to violence: The threat of the 764 network in the US." +- Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (CTC): "Nihilism and Terror: How M.K.Y. Is Redefining Terrorism, Recruitment, and Mass Violence." +- Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE): "The 764 Network: A Global Threat for Child Abuse and Radicalization" and coverage of the Justin B. arrest. +- Anti-Defamation League (ADL): Entry in the Glossary of Extremism and Hate; background on 764. +- New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP): Unclassified threat assessment, August 21, 2024. +- Marc-André Argentino (Accelerationist Research Consortium): Multiple analyses including "Nihilism and Misanthropy Unleashed: The 764 Network and No Lives Matter's NEW Ideological Manifesto and the Hässelby Attack." +- Stockholm University (DIVA portal): "No Future, Only Violence: Unpacking the Propaganda of No Lives Matter (NLM)" (2025). + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Ali Winston, "The Violent Rise of 'No Lives Matter,'" *Wired*, March 13, 2025. https://www.wired.com/story/no-lives-matter-764-violence/ (paywalled; summarized via WIRED social media post https://x.com/WIRED/status/1899867013868085440). +[^2]: "Eindhoven suspect says he left sadistic online 'Com' shortly before his arrest," *NL Times*, October 28, 2025. https://nltimes.nl/2025/10/28/eindhoven-suspect-says-left-sadistic-online-com-shortly-arrest. See also Weening Strafrechtadvocaten case summaries: https://www.strafrechtadvocaten.nl/en/verdachte-achter-sadistische-onlinegroep-bekeerde-zich-en-had-leven-net-op-orde-rtl-nl/ +[^3]: "Founder of No Lives Matter Arrested on Child Abuse and Terrorism Charges," Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, 2025. https://globalextremism.org/post/founder-of-no-lives-matter-arrested-on-child-abuse-and-terrorism-charges/ +[^4]: "No Lives Matter Updates Extremist Messaging and Publishes Tactical Guides," New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, August 21, 2024. https://www.njohsp.gov/Home/Components/News/News/1430/2. Archived: https://archive.org/details/no-lives-matter-nlm +[^5]: "No Future, Only Violence: Unpacking the Propaganda of No Lives Matter (NLM)," Stockholm University DIVA portal. https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1979977/FULLTEXT01.pdf +[^6]: "The 764 Network: A Global Threat for Child Abuse and Radicalization," Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. https://globalextremism.org/post/764-network/. See also Marc-André Argentino, "Brotherhood of Blood: Understanding the Origins and Trajectory of the Maniac Murder Cult," GNET, December 4, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/12/04/brotherhood-of-blood-understanding-the-origins-and-trajectory-of-the-maniac-murder-cult/ +[^7]: "Defending Against SCATTERED SPIDER and The Com with Cybercrime Intelligence," SANS Institute. https://www.sans.org/blog/defending-against-scattered-spider-and-the-com-with-cybercrime-intelligence/ +[^8]: TRAC Incident Report: "14-Year-Old Boy Taken Into Custody on Suspicion of Carrying Out a Knife Attack on a Woman and an Elderly in the Name of the No Lives Matter (NLM) and Satanic 764 Groups, Hässelby, Stockholm, Sweden - 19 October 2024." https://trackingterrorism.org/chatter/boy-knife-attack-satanic-764-hasselby-stockholm-sweden-trac/. See also Marc-André Argentino, "Nihilism and Misanthropy Unleashed: The 764 Network and No Lives Matter's NEW Ideological Manifesto and the Hässelby Attack." https://www.maargentino.com/nihilism-and-misanthropy-unleashed-the-764-network-and-no-lives-matters-new-ideological-manifesto-and-the-hasselby-attack/ +[^9]: "Teen Found Guilty in Borås Sect-Related Knife Attack," *Sweden Herald*. https://swedenherald.com/article/teen-found-guilty-in-boras-knife-attack-linked-to-violent-network. See also "Online Sect's Influence on Teen Knife Attacks Faces Court Scrutiny," *Sweden Herald*. https://swedenherald.com/article/online-sects-influence-on-teen-knife-attacks-faces-court-scrutiny +[^10]: "Terror without ideology? The rise of nihilistic violence," Institute for Strategic Dialogue. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/terror-without-ideology-the-rise-of-nihilistic-violence-an-isd-investigation/ +[^11]: "Sadistische Justin B. ook verdacht van verkrachting en kinderpornobezit," *Omroep Brabant*. https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/6004745/sadistische-justin-b-ook-verdacht-van-verkrachting-en-kinderpornobezit. See also *Omroep Brabant*: https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/4770072/sadistische-justin-b-uit-eindhoven-was-oprichter-terreurnetwerk-volgens-om diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Omega Solutions International.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Omega Solutions International.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..80243584 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Omega Solutions International.md @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - DefenseContractor + - NeoNazi + - TheBase + - GovernmentContracting + - NewYork + - USA +summary: "Omega Solutions International LLC was a New York-registered defense contracting firm operated by Rinaldo Nazzaro that held a federal CAGE code and marketed intelligence and counterterrorism software to U.S. government agencies, but produced no confirmed prime contract awards." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2009 +location: "244 Fifth Avenue, Suite N230, New York, NY 10001" +--- + +Omega Solutions International LLC, doing business as OSI Division, was a New York-registered limited liability company operated by [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] as its sole publicly identified member and point of contact. The company marketed itself as a provider of [[command, control, and intelligence]] (C2I) services specializing in [[homeland security]], counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and [[psychological operations]], drawing on Nazzaro's claimed background in U.S. government national security work. OSI held a federal [[Commercial and Government Entity]] (CAGE) code and maintained registration in the federal government contracting system, but no confirmed prime contract awards appear in public contracting databases, and FOIA requests to multiple federal agencies produced no responsive contract records.[^1] + +### Corporate Registration + +OSI is listed with a business establishment date of 2009 in vendor databases, while its CAGE code (61PL9) registration in the government contracting system dates to June 24, 2010. The company is recorded by [[OpenCorporates]] under New York entity number 3860294. It also registered as a foreign entity in the [[District of Columbia]]. Its registered address was 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite N230, New York, NY 10001-7604, a shared virtual office suite common among small consulting firms. The company's website operated at osihq.com (offline as of 2026). The company's [[DUNS number]] was 962794702.[^2] + +OSI listed nine [[NAICS]] codes in its SAM.gov vendor profile, spanning custom computer programming services (541511 primary), scientific consulting, social-science research and development, translation and interpretation services, security guard and patrol services, and computer training. Ten [[Product Service Codes]] (PSC) in its profile included categories for research and development services, intelligence studies, surveillance services, and education and training programs.[^3] + +### WATCHTOWER Product + +OSI developed a software product called [[WATCHTOWER]], which Nazzaro trademarked under serial number 86974351 (USPTO Registration Number 5370774). The trademark application describes the product as "downloadable cloud-based and client-based server software for use in a proprietary computer system for providing unified operational intelligence awareness to command centers and intelligence analysts via automated information sharing and data processing." The trademark records a first use in commerce of December 1, 2008, predating the formal LLC registration, indicating Nazzaro was developing the product before establishing the corporate entity. FOIA requests filed in 2020 specifically sought records of any government agency that had evaluated or purchased WATCHTOWER technology; all agencies queried returned no responsive documents.[^4] + +### CAGE Code and Federal System Registration + +CAGE code 61PL9 was assigned to OSI and shows an active record status, last modified December 11, 2017, with a last update date of February 20, 2020. The CAGE code expiration date is February 15, 2022, suggesting the company was not renewed in the federal contracting system after that point. The OSI entry in the [[System for Award Management]] (SAM) vendor database describes the firm as a "Non-Manufacturer" and classifies it under the NAICS code for custom computer programming services, with Nazzaro listed as the primary point of contact.[^2] + +### Marketing and Claimed Credentials + +OSI's marketing materials described the company as having access to "a network of security professionals" with hands-on experience in intelligence, counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and psychological operations across government agencies. The company claimed its staff held or had held government security clearances, including top-secret-level clearances, and was described in press coverage as "cleared by the federal government for defense contracting." Nazzaro's claimed credentials included his stated work at the [[Department of Homeland Security]] [[Office of Intelligence and Analysis]] (2004-2006), [[U.S. Marine Corps]] intelligence roles, and contractor deployments in [[Iraq]] and [[Afghanistan]] through approximately 2014.[^5] + +### Federal Contract Record + +No prime contract awards to Omega Solutions International LLC appear in the [[USASpending.gov]] database under DUNS 962794702 or CAGE 61PL9. A series of six FOIA requests filed in January 2020 by journalist Jason Wilson through [[MuckRock]] queried the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], [[Defense Contract Management Agency]] (DCMA), [[Department of Defense]] Freedom of Information Policy Office, [[Department of Justice]] National Security Division, [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], and [[U.S. Department of State]]. The CIA, DoD, and DOJ National Security Division each returned "No Responsive Documents" determinations. The FBI, State Department, and DCMA rejected the requests outright. DCMA's partial response noted that it administers only contracts assigned to it by individual military services and defense agencies and asked for a specific contract number to facilitate any search, indicating no DCMA-administered contract existed for OSI.[^1] + +[[Special Operations Command]] (SOCOM) public affairs officer [[Ken McGraw]] separately stated in January 2020 that SOCOM was "unable to find any information about a contractor named Rinaldo Nazzaro briefing any senior Special Operations Forces leaders on counterterrorism in [2014]" and confirmed that SOCOM had no contracts with Omega Solutions. The absence of SOCOM direct contracts does not rule out subcontract arrangements routed through prime contractors, which are not publicly indexed in government databases.[^6] + +### Dissolution + +The CAGE code for OSI expired February 15, 2022 and was not renewed. Nazzaro relocated to [[St. Petersburg, Russia]] by 2018, and The Guardian's January 2020 investigation identifying him as the founder of [[The Base]] accelerated any wind-down of the company's public profile. The osihq.com website was offline as of 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: MuckRock, "Omega Solutions International LLC/Rinaldo Nazzaro Contracts," multi-agency FOIA request by Jason Wilson, submitted January 30, 2020. https://www.muckrock.com/foi/multirequest/omega-solutions-international-llcrinaldo-nazzaro-contracts-80373/ + +[^2]: NATO Support and Procurement Agency CAGE Program, "Details 61PL9 OMEGA SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL LLC." CAGE record, last modified December 11, 2017. https://cage.report/NCAGE/61PL9; Government Contractor Database, SAM vendor ID SAM00000000001245016. https://www.govcb.com/government-vendors/profile-SAM00000000001245016-omega-solutions-international-New-York-NY.htm + +[^3]: Government Contractor Database, SAM vendor profile, Omega Solutions International LLC, NAICS and PSC code listings. https://www.govcb.com/government-vendors/profile-SAM00000000001245016-omega-solutions-international-New-York-NY.htm + +[^4]: United States Patent and Trademark Office, WATCHTOWER trademark, serial number 86974351, registration number 5370774, owner Omega Solutions International LLC. https://trademarks.justia.com/869/74/watchtower-86974351.html; MuckRock, "Omega Solutions International LLC/Rinaldo Nazzaro Contracts (Defense Contract Management Agency)," FOIA response May 11, 2020. https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/omega-solutions-international-llcrinaldo-nazzaro-contracts-defense-contract-management-agency-87225/ + +[^5]: Wilson, Jason. "Neo-Nazi Terror Leader Said to Have Worked With U.S. Special Forces." *VICE News*, January 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/neo-nazi-terror-leader-said-to-have-worked-with-us-special-forces/ + +[^6]: Wilson, Jason. "Neo-Nazi Terror Leader Said to Have Worked With U.S. Special Forces." *VICE News*, January 2020, quoting SOCOM public affairs officer Ken McGraw. https://www.vice.com/en/article/neo-nazi-terror-leader-said-to-have-worked-with-us-special-forces/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Order of Nine Angles.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Order of Nine Angles.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..26e6f0a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Order of Nine Angles.md @@ -0,0 +1,218 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - O9A + - NeoNazi + - Satanism + - Occultism + - ViolentExtremism + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - UK + - DomesticTerrorism + - Proscription + - BritishIntelligence +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "The Order of Nine Angles is a British neo-Nazi occultist organization whose Insight Roles doctrine of committing crimes as spiritual initiation made it a foundational influence on Atomwaffen Division, Tempel ov Blood, and the broader accelerationist ecosystem, and which has never been proscribed in the UK despite eight terrorism convictions linked to it in two years." +start: 1980 +location: "United Kingdom" +--- + +[[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A or ONA) is a British neo-Nazi occultist organization whose doctrine of transgressive initiation, decentralized cell structure, and explicit advocacy for criminal violence has made it one of the most structurally influential extremist ideologies of the contemporary era. Its documented membership in the early 2020s was estimated at roughly 2,000 adherents globally, yet O9A's influence on militant accelerationism in the United States and abroad far exceeds what those numbers suggest, driven principally by its American nexion [[Tempel ov Blood]] and that nexion's infiltration of [[Atomwaffen Division]].[^1] O9A's published texts, particularly the novel [[Iron Gates]] (2014), circulated through [[Terrorgram]] channels and directly shaped the radicalization ecosystem in which [[764 Network|764]] and its predecessor [[CVLT]] operated. + +### Founding and Claimed History + +O9A claims to have been established in the 1960s by a woman in the [[Welsh Marches]] of western England who presided over a secretive pre-Christian tradition. According to O9A's own account, a man known as [[Anton Long]] was initiated into this group in 1973 and subsequently became its grand master, merging O9A's predecessor elements (the Camlad tradition, the [[Noctulians]], and Long's own [[Temple of the Sun]]) into the modern organization.[^2] + +Scholars who have examined the historical record are skeptical of this account. The first verifiable O9A publication is the manuscript *[[Naos]]: A Guide to Becoming* (1989, 127 pages), a guide to the septenary magical system and hermetic workings that constitutes the foundational O9A text. The organization rose to wider public attention in the early 1980s. The claimed 1960s origin appears to serve a rhetorical function, grounding the organization in an antique pre-Christian tradition rather than in its documentable origin in the British neo-Nazi milieu of the 1970s.[^2] + +### David Myatt and the Anton Long Identity Question + +The identity of "Anton Long" is the central contested question in O9A studies. Most researchers who have examined the evidence in depth attribute the Anton Long pseudonym to [[David Myatt]], a British neo-Nazi activist with a documented decades-long career in violent far-right politics. O9A denies this, and Myatt has denied writing the O9A texts under the Anton Long name. + +The case for the Myatt-Long attribution rests on: shared philosophical concepts (the "acausal" realm, the division of history into distinct aeons, support for space colonization, the "[[Star Game]]"); stylistic overlap between Myatt's neo-Nazi writings and O9A texts; historical proximity (Myatt was active in the same West Midlands neo-Nazi milieu in the 1970s where O9A emerged); and an identification published as early as 1998 in the anti-fascist magazine [[Searchlight Magazine]]. That 1998 identification predates any O9A interest in constructing a counter-narrative, giving it some evidentiary weight.[^3] + +Dissenting scholars, including [[Jeffrey Kaplan]], have argued the attribution remains circumstantial and that Myatt and Long may be separate individuals. The full biographical entry for [[David Myatt]] documents his parallel career and provides additional context for the attribution debate. + +### Ideology: The Seven Fold Way + +O9A's core initiatory framework is the [[Seven Fold Way]] (or Septenary System), a hierarchical progression of seven stages through which the individual is supposed to develop through increasingly transgressive experience. The stages, described in esoteric terminology, are Neophyte, Initiate, External Adept, Internal Adept, Master/Mistress, Grand Master/Grand Mistress, and Immortal. The full journey is supposed to span many years and require substantial personal transformation.[^4] + +The most operationally significant element of the Seven Fold Way for law enforcement purposes is the [[Insight Roles]] concept. O9A doctrine holds that initiates at certain stages must undertake "insight roles," periods typically lasting three to six months in which they adopt and fully live out a specified lifestyle or role that is alien to their normal existence and forces transgressive personal experience. O9A published "Insight Roles: A Guide" in 1989, subsequently collected in *[[Hostia]]: Secret Teachings of the O.N.A.* Volume I (1992), O9A's second major text.[^4] + +The roles enumerated in O9A texts are criminal in ordinary-language terms. Practitioners are encouraged to live as a street criminal, a drug dealer, a hired killer, a soldier or mercenary, a practitioner of Satanic rituals, or, in materials distributed through American affiliate [[Tempel ov Blood]], to commit acts of violence against targeted victims described as "culling." O9A frames this not as crime but as a method of confronting personal limitation, developing genuine knowledge of the "sinister" aspects of existence, and accumulating "esoteric experience." The practical consequence is that O9A doctrine explicitly authorizes and encourages criminal violence as a spiritual practice, which distinguishes it structurally from other extremist ideologies that arrive at violence through political argument.[^1] + +### Acausality and the Sinister Dialectic + +O9A's metaphysical framework rests on a distinction between the "causal" world (the ordinary, physical, time-bound realm) and the "acausal" realm (described as timeless, non-physical, and accessible through occult practice). The organization uses this distinction to situate its violence within a cosmic framework: acts of violence and transgression are positioned as perturbations of causal reality that release "acausal energy" and advance what O9A calls the "sinister dialectic," a long-term project of destabilizing existing civilization to create conditions for the emergence of a post-human, O9A-aligned order.[^2] + +The eschatological figure at the center of this project is [[Vindex]], described in O9A texts as a future warrior-leader who will overthrow existing institutions and establish a new civilization based on O9A's Aryanist, Social Darwinist principles. Vindex is not a specific named individual but a role O9A adherents are encouraged to aspire toward or to help bring into being through accelerationist violence.[^2] + +### Structure: Nexions + +O9A deliberately avoids centralized organizational structure. The basic unit is the [[nexion]] (O9A's term for a local cell or working group), intended to be autonomous and self-directing. Nexions are connected by shared texts, aesthetics, and doctrine rather than by formal hierarchical command. This decentralization makes O9A resistant to decapitation by law enforcement and allows it to absorb and influence other organizations without formal merger, as it did with [[Atomwaffen Division]] through the Tempel ov Blood nexion beginning in 2017.[^1] + +O9A's American publishing arm, [[Martinet Press]], operated under the direction of [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] and his wife [[Jillian Hoy]] and distributed O9A texts internationally. The most significant Martinet Press publication in terms of documented radicalization impact is *Iron Gates* (2014), a 312-page novel set in a post-nuclear-war America centered on a gang of Satanists committing acts of extreme violence including infanticide, cannibalism, rape, and torture. The book was written as "spiritual instruction" for O9A adherents and became required reading for Atomwaffen Division new members under [[John Cameron Denton]].[^5] Sutter, the publisher, was simultaneously a paid FBI informant who received $78,133.20 from the FBI specifically in connection with his Atomwaffen Division work, in addition to prior payments totaling more than $140,000 since 2003.[^6] + +### Primary Texts + +O9A has produced an extensive body of written material, hosted on o9a.org and distributed through various channels. Key texts include: + +*Naos: A Guide to Becoming* (1989, 127 pp.): The founding manuscript, described by O9A as "a guide to hermetic workings, basic septenary system and the Star Game," establishing O9A's core magical framework. + +*Hostia: Secret Teachings of the O.N.A.* (Vol. I, 1992): Contains the 1989 text "Insight Roles: A Guide," O9A's first formal articulation of the insight roles concept. + +The Deofel Quintet (novels, 1976-1992): Five O9A novels functioning as esoteric instruction through fiction, including *Falcifer* (103 pp.) and *Temple of Satan* (109 pp.). + +*The Requisite ONA* (981 pp.): A comprehensive practical guide to the Seven Fold Way through the Internal Adept stage, containing facsimile versions of *Naos*, *The Black Book of Satan*, and *The Grimoire of Baphomet*, plus the complete Deofel Quintet. + +*Iron Gates* (Tempel ov Blood / Martinet Press, 2014, 312 pp.): Violent post-apocalyptic fiction written as spiritual instruction for American adherents; required reading for Atomwaffen Division members under Denton. Available at the Internet Archive.[^7] + +### Atomwaffen Division and O9A Integration + +The most consequential real-world application of O9A doctrine in the United States came through Tempel ov Blood's infiltration of Atomwaffen Division beginning in 2017. Sutter joined AWD in the spring of 2017 under the alias "swissdiscipline," after AWD leader [[John Cameron Denton]] invited ToB members into the group. Sutter attended AWD "Hate Camp" paramilitary trainings in 2017 and 2018 and the [[2019 AWD Nuclear Congress]], which also drew [[James Mason]], the author of *[[Siege]]*. At least nine O9A/ToB members held key leadership positions in Atomwaffen Division at the peak of this relationship.[^5] + +Denton made Sutter's books (*Iron Gates*, *Liber 333*, and *Bluebird*) required or approved reading for AWD members. This ideological shift provoked internal controversy and drove out members who rejected Satanism as a contamination of their National Socialist politics, but it also deepened AWD's capacity for violence by giving members a framework in which murder was construed as spiritual service.[^1] + +### UK Terrorism Convictions: Documented Cases + +Between April 2019 and April 2021, [[HOPE not hate]] documented eight individuals linked to O9A who were convicted of terrorism offences in the United Kingdom. The majority were teenagers. The full named record from 2019 to early 2025 is as follows, incorporating those eight plus subsequent cases.[^8] + +[[Michael Szewczuk]], 19, of Leeds (Sonnenkrieg Division co-founder), and [[Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski]], 18, of West London (Sonnenkrieg Division member), were sentenced at the [[Old Bailey]] on 18 June 2019 by Judge [[Rebecca Poulet QC]]. Szewczuk pleaded guilty to two counts of encouraging terrorism under section 1 of the [[Terrorism Act 2006]] and five counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]], including the White Resistance Manual and the Al Qaeda Manual. He was sentenced to four years and three months in a Young Offenders' Institute. Dunn-Koczorowski pleaded guilty to two counts of encouraging terrorism and received an 18-month Detention and Training Order. Both operated personal accounts on the [[Gab]] social media platform under pseudonyms and shared control of the Sonnenkrieg Division's Gab page, posting propaganda encouraging lone-actor terrorism including imagery targeting Prince Harry as a "race traitor." The sentencing remarks were delivered by Judge Poulet QC.[^23] + +[[Jacek Tchorzewski]], 18, a Polish national residing in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was stopped at [[Luton Airport]] on 20 February 2019 under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 by officers from the [[Eastern Region Specialist Operation Unit Counter Terrorism Policing]] (ERSOU CTP) before he could board a flight to Poland. Phone analysis uncovered a cache of terrorist manuals and bomb-making guides. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on 21 June 2019 to 10 counts of possession of information likely useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and was sentenced on 20 September 2019 to four years' imprisonment. A subsequent prosecution at [[Harrow Crown Court]] on 23 July 2020 for indecent images offences resulted in a concurrent 8-month sentence. Tchorzewski was described as holding deep neo-Nazi and Satanist beliefs; he was linked to Sonnenkrieg Division and had expressed a "dream" of carrying out a mass-casualty attack. He was also subject to a deportation order.[^24] + +[[Jack Reed]], 16, of New Brancepeth, County Durham, was convicted at [[Manchester Crown Court]] in November 2019 of six terrorism offences: preparation of terrorist acts under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, disseminating a terrorist publication, possessing an article for a terrorist purpose, and three counts of possessing a document useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. An O9A symbol was hand-drawn on his handwritten manifesto, which he titled "Storm 88 - A Manual For Practical And Sensible Guerrilla Warfare Against The Kike System In The Durham City Area, Sieg Heil" and which listed schools, pubs, council buildings, and post offices as targets, alongside planned arson attacks on local synagogues. The prosecution described his ideology as "occult neo-Nazism." Judge [[David Stockdale QC]] sentenced Reed in January 2020 to six years and eight months' detention in a Young Offenders' Institute with a five-year extended licence, ordering that he serve two-thirds before Parole Board consideration. A separate concurrent sentence of 18 months' Detention Training Order was imposed on 23 December 2020 for five sexual assaults against a schoolgirl. Reed's anonymity order was later lifted following a successful application by journalists, and he was publicly named in January 2021.[^25] + +[[Harry Vaughan]], 18, of Kingston-upon-Thames, a grammar school student at [[Tiffin School]] who had achieved A-grade A-levels in maths, further maths, physics, and history, was arrested on 19 June 2019 in a Counter Terrorism Policing investigation into [[Fascist Forge]], an online extremist forum. He was charged with one count of encouraging terrorism (section 1, Terrorism Act 2006), one count of disseminating a terrorist publication (section 2, Terrorism Act 2006), 12 counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist (section 58, Terrorism Act 2000), and two counts of possessing indecent images. He pleaded guilty on all counts. The documents on his devices included Sonnenkrieg Division propaganda of his own creation, bomb-making manuals, and a guide to killing people. Sentenced at the Old Bailey in November 2020 by Mr Justice Sweeney, who described him as "a dangerous offender," he received a two-year detention sentence suspended for two years, a result that drew criticism from counter-extremism researchers.[^26] + +The cases of the unnamed Cornish teenager ([[Feuerkrieg Division]] UK leader, sentenced February 2021) and [[Benjamin Hannam]] (Metropolitan Police constable, sentenced May 2021) are documented in the existing page and in the [[National Action]] vault entry respectively. The unnamed Cornish defendant received a 24-month youth rehabilitation order; the [[Crown Prosecution Service]] press release confirmed that a copy of [[Iron Gates]], the O9A-affiliated novel published by [[Martinet Press]], was found during the 2019 police search of his home.[^27] + +[[Danyal Hussein]], an 18-year-old Iraqi Kurd from [[Wembley]], was convicted on 6 July 2021 at the [[Old Bailey]] of the murders of sisters [[Bibaa Henry]] (46) and [[Nicole Smallman]] (27) in [[Fryent Country Park]], London, on 6 June 2020. Hussein had signed a handwritten contract in his own blood addressed to the demon [[Lucifuge Rofocale]], pledging to kill six women every six months in exchange for lottery winnings. He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 35 years. Investigators found that he had been in contact with an individual closely associated with the Order of Nine Angles. The case was cited by [[Stephanie Peacock MP]] in October 2021 in renewed calls for O9A's proscription.[^11] + +[[Ben John]], 21, of Lincoln, a criminology student at [[De Montfort University]] Leicester, was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on 12 August 2021 of one count of possessing a document useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing's East Midlands unit found a hard drive containing the Anarchy Cookbook, alongside white supremacist and antisemitic literature and material relating to O9A. Judge [[Timothy Spencer QC]] sentenced John on 31 August 2021 to two years' imprisonment suspended for two years, ordering him to read works of classic literature including Dickens and Austen, a direction that attracted widespread press criticism. Solicitor General [[Alex Chalk QC MP]] referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal under section 36 of the [[Criminal Justice Act 1988]] as unduly lenient. On 19 January 2022, the Court of Appeal increased the sentence to two years' immediate custody plus one year on licence.[^28] + +[[Luca Benincasa]], 20, of Cardiff, was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on 26 January 2023 by Judge [[Jane Miller KC]] to five years and seven months for terrorism charges and an additional consecutive eight months for child images offences, with a three-year extended licence on the terrorism counts, for a total custodial term of approximately nine years and three months. He had pleaded guilty at Winchester Crown Court on 15 July 2022 to one count of membership of the proscribed organisation Feuerkrieg Division under section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and four counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist under section 58, including improvised explosive device and pipe-bomb manuals. Benincasa was the first person convicted of FKD membership since that group's proscription in July 2020. He had described himself as the "UK cell leader" of FKD and one of its key recruiters; Judge Miller KC found him to be "a prominent member." Press coverage described him as a "prominent ONA member," though the published sentencing remarks' specific language on O9A has not been independently verified and constitutes an open thread.[^29] + +[[Ashley Podsiad-Sharp]], 42, a prison officer at [[HMP Armley]] in Leeds, was convicted at Sheffield Crown Court of one count of possessing terrorist material under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (acquitted of a second count of dissemination). He was sentenced on 31 August 2023 by Judge [[Jeremy Richardson KC]] to eight years' imprisonment plus five years' extended licence. His devices contained the White Resistance Manual, a 200-page publication containing sections on arson, poisoning, infrastructure sabotage, bomb-making, and evading police capture. He had been a former member of [[National Action]] before its proscription and had subsequently founded the [[White Stag Athletics Club]], which required members to hold white-supremacist and antisemitic views. Podsiad-Sharp showed, in the judge's assessment, "not one iota of remorse." The sentencing remarks are published on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website.[^30] + +[[Declan George-Candiani]], 26, of Streatham, was stopped at [[Stansted Airport]] on 13 August 2024 by Counter Terrorism Command officers using Schedule 7 powers. His phone was analysed and he was arrested; an iPad was also seized from his home. He was convicted at the Old Bailey on 3 October 2024 of two counts of collecting material likely useful to a terrorist under section 58(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000 (acquitted of two further counts), and sentenced on 28 November 2024 to 23 months' imprisonment plus one year on licence, plus a 10-year terrorism notification requirement. Devices contained extreme right-wing manifestos, mass killer writings, and lone-wolf attack guides. In police interview, George-Candiani told officers he had developed an interest in O9A's "traditional Satanism," attributing his downloading of the material to that interest.[^31] + +[[Cameron Finnigan]], 19, of Horsham, West Sussex, joined the [[764 Network|764]] online extremist group in late 2023. Counter Terrorism Policing became aware of him in March 2024. He pleaded guilty on 4 October 2024 to five counts: one count of possessing a document for terrorist purposes under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (an 11-page PDF outlining truck, knife, and firearm mass-casualty attack planning), one count of doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide under section 2 of the [[Suicide Act 1961]] as amended (encouraging a young woman to livestream her suicide to his Telegram group), two counts of criminal damage, and one count of possessing indecent images. He was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court on 16 January 2025 by Mr Justice Jay to six years' imprisonment plus three years' extended licence. The judge assessed him as posing a high risk of serious harm to the public, including children, and applied a 25% reduction for youth and mental health. The sentencing remarks are published on the judiciary.uk website.[^32] + +### Criminal Cases Linked to O9A: International + +Documented individuals who committed or planned violence while affiliated with or influenced by O9A include: + +[[Ethan Phelan Melzer]], a U.S. Army Private in the 173rd Airborne Brigade who, under the alias "Etil Reggad," transmitted classified information about his unit's planned deployment to Turkey to O9A members on [[Telegram]], conspiring to facilitate a mass-casualty attack on his own soldiers. Arrested May 2020 in Vicenza, Italy; convicted in the Southern District of New York; sentenced March 2023 to 45 years in prison.[^12] + +[[Guilherme Von Neutegem]], a Canadian O9A adherent charged with murder for killing a victim outside a mosque in Toronto in 2020. + +[[Jarrett William Smith]], a U.S. Army specialist at Fort Riley, Kansas, arrested in 2019 for distributing explosives manuals online and discussing plans to attack anti-fascist groups and a media outlet. Pleaded guilty; sentenced to 30 months.[^5] + +[[Andrew Dymock]], a British neo-Nazi charged with 15 terrorism and hate-related counts in the United Kingdom, with documented O9A affiliation. + +[[David Copeland]], who detonated three nail bombs targeting London's Black, Asian, and LGBTQ communities in 1999, killing three and injuring 139, was found in possession of writings by [[David Myatt]].[^3] + +### The Proscription Non-Decision + +O9A has not been proscribed in the United Kingdom as of mid-2026. The [[Home Office]] proscription criteria under Section 3 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]] require the Home Secretary to believe that an organisation is "concerned in terrorism," meaning it: (a) commits or participates in acts of terrorism; (b) prepares for terrorism; (c) promotes or encourages terrorism; or (d) is otherwise concerned in terrorism. If the statutory test is met, the Home Secretary then applies discretionary factors including the nature and scale of the organisation's activities and the need to support the international counter-terrorism community.[^13] + +The legal and structural problem O9A presents for proscription is its deliberate decentralisation. O9A has no formal membership rolls, no governing body, no public leadership structure, and no legal entity. Its basic unit is the autonomous nexion, connected by shared texts rather than hierarchy. Proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000 operates on the premise that there is an "organisation" whose members can then be charged with membership offences under Section 11. If the Home Office concludes that O9A's structure is too diffuse to constitute an "organisation" in the statutory sense, the proscription mechanism becomes legally uncertain even if the substantive test of concern in terrorism is met. This structural problem does not appear to have been definitively addressed in any published government document, but it is widely cited by counter-extremism researchers as the most likely non-political reason for the non-decision.[^14] + +### Parliamentary Campaign for Proscription: Timeline + +March 2020: [[HOPE not hate]] formally called for O9A proscription in its *State of Hate 2020* report, characterising O9A as "an incubator of terrorism."[^15] + +March 2020: [[Yvette Cooper]], chair of the [[Home Affairs Select Committee]], called on the Home Secretary to "immediately" refer O9A to the proscription review group, following the New Statesman investigation that documented O9A materials being held under restricted access at the [[British Library]].[^16] + +19 April 2021: [[HOPE not hate]] published "Government misses opportunity to proscribe Order of Nine Angles" on the same day the Home Office announced the proscription of [[Atomwaffen Division]] and [[The Base]] under the Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2021. Hope not Hate CEO [[Nick Lowles]] stated: "The government's counter-terrorism strategy against the far-right threat remains deeply troubling." The statement argued that O9A had been recommended for proscription over a year earlier and that its influence on proscribed groups including Atomwaffen Division made the omission incoherent.[^17] + +13 July 2021: Parliamentary debate, "Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism" (HC Deb), featuring extended discussion of O9A. [[Stephanie Peacock]] (Labour, Barnsley East) and [[Stephen Doughty]] (Labour, Cardiff South and Penarth) both called on the Home Secretary to proscribe O9A. The minister's response was the standard formula: the government "will not provide any commentary on which groups are or are not being considered for proscription by the review group" and that "the proscription review process is robust and working as it should."[^18] + +October 2021: Peacock renewed her call for proscription in response to the Danyal Hussein conviction, citing his contact with an O9A-associated individual as evidence that O9A's influence was translating into direct harm on British streets.[^11] + +18 July 2023: CONTEST 2023, the fourth iteration of the UK counter-terrorism strategy, identified extreme right-wing terrorism as accounting for approximately 22 per cent of UK attacks since 2018 and approximately 25 per cent of MI5's caseload. It listed proscribed far-right organisations including [[Feuerkrieg Division]], [[Atomwaffen Division]], [[Sonnenkrieg Division]], and [[The Base]], but did not name O9A in accessible sections as either proscribed or under active review.[^33] + +15 September 2023: The Home Office Proscription Factsheet described the proscription review process and criteria in general terms but made no reference to O9A.[^34] + +2 July 2025: The House of Commons debated the draft Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025, which proscribed three new organisations: [[Maniac Murder Cult]] (a US-based accelerationist group with documented O9A and 764 connections), [[Palestine Action]], and the [[Russian Imperial Movement]]. The Order was approved by 385 votes to 26 after a division. O9A was not included. During the debate, the parliamentary chair of [[HOPE not hate]] again urged the government to consider O9A proscription; the minister's response was the standard formula that the government does not comment on groups under or not under consideration. The Order bears SI number 9780348273373.[^35] + +No proscription of O9A has been announced as of mid-2026. The government's consistent refusal to explain the non-decision stands in contrast to the public reasoning given for other proscriptions. When [[National Action]] was proscribed in December 2016, [[Amber Rudd]] made a public statement characterising it as "a racist, antisemitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology." No equivalent statement characterising O9A as below the threshold, or as failing the statutory test on structural grounds, has been published. + +### Proscription Comparisons + +The gap between O9A's legal status and that of its downstream networks is substantial. The following proscribed organisations have documented O9A connections: + +[[Sonnenkrieg Division]] (proscribed 2019): explicitly modelled on O9A philosophy and [[Atomwaffen Division]]; five members convicted of terrorism charges in the UK.[^19] + +[[Atomwaffen Division]] (proscribed April 2021): ideologically shaped by O9A through [[Tempel ov Blood]] and [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]]; considered O9A texts required reading.[^17] + +[[The Base]] (proscribed April 2021): structurally influenced by O9A's nexion model; [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] incorporated O9A aesthetics and doctrine.[^17] + +[[Combat 18]] (proscribed February 2020, S.I. 2020/200): the organisation in which [[David Myatt]], O9A's attributed founder, served as "ideological heavyweight." Proscribed while O9A itself is not.[^20] + +### New Zealand Designation + +New Zealand designated O9A as a terrorist organisation in 2025, making it one of the few countries to have taken formal legal action against the organisation itself rather than merely prosecuting individual adherents. The OpenSanctions database records the NZ listing; the specific New Zealand Gazette reference and enabling legislation have not been retrieved in this research run and constitute an open thread.[^21] + +### O9A Texts and the British Library + +A specific detail from the March 2020 New Statesman investigation: O9A materials were being held in a secure, supervised section of the [[British Library]], accessible only under controlled conditions. This is a standard British Library procedure for materials assessed as potentially harmful rather than a formal legal restriction, but it was cited in the Yvette Cooper proscription call as evidence of the state's implicit recognition of O9A's dangerous character while formal proscription remained absent.[^16] + +### O9A and the 764 Ecosystem + +O9A's influence on [[764 Network|764]] is documented but operates at one remove. 764 is not an O9A nexion and its members do not generally identify as O9A adherents. The connection works through three channels: first, aesthetic adoption, as 764 groups took on O9A visual symbolism and nomenclature; second, structural parallel, as the insight roles doctrine of committing crimes as spiritual progression mirrors 764's content economy in which criminal acts are required for advancement; third, distribution pipeline, as *Iron Gates* and other O9A texts circulated through Terrorgram channels that overlapped with the 764 radicalization environment. The ISD characterized O9A materials as having "directly influenced the operational practices of 764."[^22] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "The 764 Network: A Global Threat for Child Abuse and Radicalization." https://globalextremism.org/post/764-network/ +[^2]: Mappingmilitants.org (Stanford). "Order of Nine Angles AT A GLANCE: Overview, Organization, Strategy, Major Attacks." https://mappingmilitants.org/files/group-profiles/order_of_nine_angles.pdf +[^3]: Religion Media Centre. "Factsheet: The Order of Nine Angles." https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/factsheets/factsheet-nine-angles/ +[^4]: O9A. "Insight Roles: A Guide." In *Hostia: Secret Teachings of the O.N.A.*, Vol. I. 1992. Archived at o9a.org. +[^5]: Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ +[^6]: Vice. "FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim." 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/fbi-bankrolled-publisher-of-occult-neo-nazi-books-feds-claim/ +[^7]: Internet Archive. *Iron Gates* (Tempel ov Blood). https://archive.org/details/tempel-ov-blood-iron-gates-text +[^8]: ISD Global. "The Order of Nine Angles." Explainer, August 2022. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-explainer/the-order-of-nine-angles/ Full report: https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/O9A-ISD-External-August2022.pdf +[^9]: Pirate FM / planetradio.co.uk. "Teenager from Cornwall becomes one of Britain's youngest convicted terrorists." February 2021; Washington Examiner, "Neo-Nazi teenager becomes UK's youngest person to be convicted of terrorism charges," 2021. +[^10]: Crown Prosecution Service / National Action case records. See National Action vault entry for full Hannam prosecution details. +[^11]: GB News. "Campaigners renew call to ban Nazi-occultist group following Satanist murders of two sisters." 2021. https://www.gbnews.com/news/campaigners-renew-call-to-ban-nazi-occultist-group-following-satanist-murders-of-two-sisters/149664; Stephanie Peacock MP website. https://www.stephaniepeacock.org.uk/stephanie_calls_on_home_secretary_to_proscribe_murderous_nazi_occultist_group/ +[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-SDNY. "Former U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced To 45 Years In Prison For Attempting To Murder Fellow Service Members In Deadly Ambush." Press Release, March 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-us-army-soldier-sentenced-45-years-prison-attempting-murder-fellow-service +[^13]: Section 3, Terrorism Act 2000. https://www.lawglobalhub.com/section-3-terrorism-act-2000-uk/; Home Office Factsheet: Proscription, September 15, 2023. https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/15/factsheet-proscription/ +[^14]: Northumbria Journal of Law and Practice. "The law relating to Proscription of terrorist organisations." https://www.northumbriajournals.co.uk/index.php/sjppar/article/download/873/1276/2703 +[^15]: HOPE not hate. "Order of Nine Angles: An Incubator of Terrorism. State of Hate 2020." https://hopenothate.org.uk/chapter/order-of-nine-angles-an-incubator-of-terrorism/ +[^16]: New Statesman. "A Nazi-satanist cult is fuelling far-right groups — overlooked by the UK authorities," March 2020. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2020/03/nazi-satanist-cult-fuelling-far-right-terrorist-groups-overlooked-uk-authorities-order-nine-angles +[^17]: HOPE not hate. "Government misses opportunity to proscribe Order of Nine Angles," April 19, 2021. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2021/04/19/atomwaffen-order-nine-angles/; Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2021, UK Statutory Instrument 2021/9780348229288. +[^18]: Hansard, HC Deb, 13 July 2021, "Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism." https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-07-13/debates/673D4D8F-D90C-450B-B7E8-26B63018E5D3/PreventionAndSuppressionOfTerrorism +[^19]: Counter Terrorism Policing. "Neo-Nazi Group Sonnenkrieg Division Proscribed." https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/news/neo-nazi-group-sonnenkrieg-division-proscribed-counter-terrorism-police/; Middlebury CTEC. "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: Sonnenkrieg Division." https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-2 +[^20]: The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2020, S.I. 2020/200. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/200/contents/made +[^21]: OpenSanctions. "Order of Nine Angles (O9A)." https://www.opensanctions.org/entities/nz-terr-order-of-nine-angles-o9a/ +[^22]: Rise to Peace. "The 764 Network and the Architecture of Digital Nihilism." February 2026. https://www.risetopeace.org/2026/02/11/the-764-network-and-the-architecture-of-digital-nihilism/fellows/ + +[^23]: Washington Post. "Two British teens just convicted for promoting far-right terrorism online." June 18, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/06/18/two-british-teens-just-convicted-promoting-far-right-terrorism-online/; HOPE not hate. "Jailed neo-Nazi Satanists were a legacy of National Action." June 18, 2019. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2019/06/18/jailed-neo-nazi-satanists-legacy-national-action/ + +[^24]: Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Hitler-loving neo-Nazi who said it was his 'dream' to create a bloodbath arrested at Luton Airport and sentenced to four years." September 2019. https://antisemitism.org/hitler-loving-neo-nazi-who-said-it-was-his-dream-to-create-a-bloodbath-arrested-at-luton-airport-and-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison; HS Today. "Police Find Sexual Abuse Images on Phone of Convicted Right-Wing Extremist." 2020. https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/counterterrorism/police-find-sexual-abuse-images-on-phone-of-convicted-right-wing-extremist/ + +[^25]: ITV News Tyne Tees. "Neo-Nazi teenager convicted of preparing to commit terrorist acts." November 20, 2019. https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2019-11-20/neo-nazi-teenager-convicted-of-preparing-to-commit-terrorist-acts; Enfield Independent (PA). "Nazi terrorist named after judge rejects anonymity bid." 2021. https://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/national/19002125.nazi-terrorist-named-judge-rejects-anonymity-bid/ + +[^26]: ITV News London. "Teenage Satanist neo-Nazi avoids jail after admitting 14 terror offences." November 2, 2020. https://www.itv.com/news/london/2020-11-02/teenage-satanist-neo-nazi-harry-vaughan-sentenced-for-terror-offences; Far-Right Criminals. "Harry Vaughan: Neo-Nazi teenager sentenced." November 2, 2020. https://far-rightcriminals.com/2020/11/02/harry-vaughan-neo-nazi-teenager-sentenced/ + +[^27]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Youngest British terrorist sentenced for neo-Nazi manuals stash." February 2021. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/youngest-british-terrorist-sentenced-neo-nazi-manuals-stash + +[^28]: GOV.UK. "Ben John's sentence increased following personal intervention by the Solicitor General." January 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ben-johns-sentence-increased-following-personal-intervention-by-the-solicitor-general--3; ITV News Central. "White supremacist Ben John told to read books by Judge who spared him jail imprisoned upon appeal." January 19, 2022. https://www.itv.com/news/central/2022-01-19/white-supremacist-ben-john-told-to-read-books-by-judge-who-spared-him-jail-imprisoned-upon-appeal + +[^29]: ITV News Wales. "Neo-Nazi, 20, from Cardiff jailed for being member of far-right terror group." January 26, 2023. https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2023-01-26/dangerous-neo-nazi-jailed-for-being-a-member-of-far-right-terror-group; Tell MAMA. "Neo-Nazi Luca Benincasa jailed for terrorism offences and child abuse images." 2023. https://tellmamauk.org/neo-nazi-luca-benincasa-jailed-for-terrorism-offences-and-child-abuse-images/ + +[^30]: R v Ashley Podsiad Sharp, Sentencing Remarks, Sheffield Crown Court, 31 August 2023. Judge Jeremy Richardson KC. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/R-v-Ashley-Podsiad-Sharp.pdf; ITV News Calendar. "Leeds Prison officer Ashley Podsiad-Sharp jailed over 'white supremacist murder manual'." August 31, 2023. https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2023-08-31/prison-officer-had-white-supremacist-murder-manual + +[^31]: Metropolitan Police. "Man convicted of terrorism offences after schedule 7 stop." https://news.met.police.uk/news/man-convicted-of-terrorism-offences-after-schedule-7-stop-501766; Metropolitan Police. "Man jailed for offences under the Terrorism Act." https://news.met.police.uk/news/man-jailed-for-offences-under-the-terrorism-act-503818; Counter Terrorism Policing. "Man convicted of terrorism offences after schedule 7 stop." https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/man-convicted-of-terrorism-offences-after-schedule-7-stop/ + +[^32]: R v Cameron Finnigan, Sentencing Remarks, Central Criminal Court, 16 January 2025. Mr Justice Jay. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/R-v-Finnigan.pdf; Sussex Police. "Man sentenced for terror offences." January 2025. https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/sussex/news/court-results/man-sentenced-for-terror-offences/ + +[^33]: Counter-Terrorism Strategy (CONTEST) 2023. Home Office / GOV.UK, 18 July 2023. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1186413/CONTEST_2023_English_updated.pdf + +[^34]: Home Office. "Factsheet: Proscription." 15 September 2023. https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/15/factsheet-proscription/ + +[^35]: Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025. SI 9780348273373. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2025/9780348273373; Hansard, HC Deb, 2 July 2025, "Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism." https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-07-02/debates/6C9338E8-E516-494A-81A2-B3FEF549DD48/PreventionAndSuppressionOfTerrorism diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/RapeWaffen Division.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/RapeWaffen Division.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..90d6ed69 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/RapeWaffen Division.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - O9A + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - DomesticTerrorism + - USA + - UK +summary: "RapeWaffen Division was a Telegram-based O9A nexion promoting rape and murder as ideological weapons, whose membership included U.S. Army soldier Ethan Phelan Melzer, convicted in 2022 for transmitting classified military intelligence to enable a mass-casualty attack on his unit." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +--- + +RapeWaffen Division was a decentralized online cell operating within the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) framework, organized primarily through encrypted [[Telegram]] channels. The name combined the neo-Nazi accelerationist branding of [[Atomwaffen Division]] with O9A's doctrinal claim that rape and murder are weapons in its pursuit of ideological and civilizational collapse. The group is most significant in the public record as the nexion in which U.S. Army soldier [[Ethan Phelan Melzer]] was active when he transmitted classified intelligence about his unit's deployment to O9A contacts in 2020.[^1] + +### Structure and Ideology + +O9A's organizational model uses the term "nexion" for local cells, which operate with significant autonomy under a shared ideological framework derived from the writings of O9A founder [[David Myatt]] and subsequent O9A texts. RapeWaffen Division was a nexion that combined the [[Insight Roles]] doctrine (which instructs initiates to commit criminal acts as a form of spiritual progression) with Atomwaffen-style accelerationism and an explicit embrace of sexual violence as a weapon. The group's stated beliefs were "O9A satanism and Esoteric Rapistism," according to investigative mapping of extremist Telegram channels.[^2] + +The RapeWaffen Division Telegram channel appears to have functioned as a radicalization and recruitment environment for individuals simultaneously affiliated with or adjacent to Atomwaffen Division. Melzer described himself as having "already self-initiated" into O9A before joining the channel, using the alias "Etil Reggad." He became sufficiently active in the channel's leadership that he is described in court documents as having taken on a leadership role within it.[^1] + +### The Melzer Case + +Melzer's participation in RapeWaffen Division is the basis for the most significant documented case of O9A military penetration in the public record. In May 2020, while with the [[173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team]] in [[Vicenza, Italy]] and preparing for a deployment to [[Turkey]], Melzer transmitted classified information about his unit's locations, personnel strength, troop movements, and defensive capabilities to RapeWaffen Division members via Telegram. The channel's CC-1, a UK-based O9A contact identified only by the CC-1 designation in court documents, relayed the intelligence to a second co-conspirator, CC-2, with the stated purpose of enabling a mass-casualty attack combining O9A members and Al-Qaeda-affiliated forces. + +The FBI had embedded an operative in the RapeWaffen Division channel. The operative, whom Melzer believed was a fellow O9A member with operational access to jihadist networks, was the primary recipient of Melzer's intelligence disclosures. The FBI arrested Melzer on June 10, 2020, before the planned deployment. Melzer was charged in [[Southern District of New York]] case 1:20-cr-00314-GHW and pleaded guilty on June 24, 2022. He was sentenced to 45 years by [[U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods]] on March 6, 2023.[^3] + +### UK Nexus and Uncharged Co-Conspirators + +The superseding indictment described CC-1 as UK-based. No UK co-conspirator was publicly charged in an open-court proceeding in the United States as of 2026. Whether UK counter-terrorism authorities pursued parallel proceedings has not been confirmed in open sources. O9A has historically been permitted to operate openly in the United Kingdom, and multiple UK prosecutions of O9A-adjacent individuals have occurred, but none have been publicly linked to the RapeWaffen Division Telegram channel specifically.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-SDNY. "U.S. Army Soldier Charged With Terrorism Offenses For Planning Deadly Ambush On Service Members In His Unit." June 2020. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-army-soldier-charged-terrorism-offenses-planning-deadly-ambush-service-members-his + +[^2]: Vice News. "US Soldier Jailed for Satanic Neo-Nazi Plot to Kill Troops in Al Qaeda Attack." 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/order-of-nine-angles-neo-neo-nazi-ethan-melzer-arrest/ + +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-SDNY. "Former U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced To 45 Years In Prison For Attempting To Murder Fellow Service Members In Deadly Ambush." March 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-us-army-soldier-sentenced-45-years-prison-attempting-murder-fellow-service; United States v. Melzer, 1:20-cr-00314-GHW (S.D.N.Y. 2022). + +[^4]: New Statesman. "A Nazi-Satanist Cult Is Fuelling Far-Right Groups, Overlooked by UK Authorities." March 2020. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2020/03/nazi-satanist-cult-fuelling-far-right-terrorist-groups-overlooked-uk-authorities-order-nine-angles diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Russian Imperial Movement.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Russian Imperial Movement.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e7535a22 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Russian Imperial Movement.md @@ -0,0 +1,89 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - Russia + - NeoNazi + - Paramilitary + - TerroristDesignation + - SDGTDesignation + - Accelerationism + - WhiteSupremacy + - TrainingCamp +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2002 +location: "St. Petersburg, Russia" +summary: "Russian Imperial Movement is a St. Petersburg-based ultranationalist paramilitary organization, designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity by the U.S. State Department in April 2020, that operated the Partizan training camp and provided weapons and explosives training to Western neo-Nazis including members of Atomwaffen Division." +--- + +[[Russian Imperial Movement]] (RIM, in Russian: Ruskoye Imperatorskoe Dvizhenie) is a [[Russia|Russian]] ultranationalist and white supremacist paramilitary organization headquartered in [[St. Petersburg]]. It was founded in approximately 2002 and operates an ideology combining Orthodox Christian monarchism, Russian imperial nationalism, and white supremacist pan-Europeanism. Its paramilitary wing, the [[Imperial Legion]], runs a training program called [[Partizan]] that has provided weapons handling, explosives, and tactical instruction to neo-Nazis from Sweden, Germany, the United States, and Finland. On April 7, 2020, the [[U.S. Department of State]] designated RIM and three of its leaders as [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] (SDGT) entities under [[Executive Order 13224]], the first time the United States had ever applied a terrorist designation to a white supremacist organization.[^1] + +### Organization and Leadership + +RIM was founded by [[Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev]], who serves as its overall leader. The organization's paramilitary infrastructure was built by [[Denis Valiullovich Gariev]] (also transliterated as "Gariyev"), who created the [[Imperial Legion]] in 2008 and directs it as its head. [[Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov]] serves as RIM's coordinator for external relations, managing recruitment of and networking with foreign white supremacist organizations. All three were designated SDGTs in the April 2020 State Department action alongside the organization itself.[^1] + +The organization describes its aims as re-establishing Russia as a "mono-ethnic state" and restoring the Russian empire, preferably under a restored Romanov dynasty. Although RIM thus formally opposes Putin's government as insufficiently monarchist, the organization has been allowed to operate freely in Russia, to maintain paramilitary training facilities, and to recruit internationally, without Russian government interference. This tolerance is what a 2026 peer-reviewed case study (published in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, drawing on eleven expert interviews and three years of open-source collection) describes as "tacit home-state toleration" that allowed paramilitary infrastructure to function as an international training hub.[^8] + +### Partizan Training Camp + +The Imperial Legion operates a training facility known as Partizan, located south of Heinäsenmaa island on the outskirts of [[St. Petersburg]]. Partizan was created by Denis Gariev and has offered courses in firearms handling, explosives manufacture and use, close-quarters combat, military medicine, military topography, urban warfare, and small-unit assault-and-clearing tactics. Former Russian military personnel serve as instructors. The [[UK Home Office]] has assessed that the Partizan program "aims to increase the capacity of attendees to conduct terrorist attacks."[^4] + +Attendance at Partizan was not restricted to Russian nationals. Foreign recruits from Western Europe, Scandinavia, and North America attended the camp during the period it operated freely, typically arranged through RIM's external relations coordinator Trushchalov. RIM did not charge fees for training; instead it positioned Partizan as a solidarity offering to like-minded organizations abroad, in exchange for networking relationships and the propagandistic value of demonstrating global white supremacist cooperation.[^2] + +### Swedish Gothenburg Bombings (2017) + +The designated use case for the State Department's SDGT action was the participation of two members of the [[Nordic Resistance Movement]] in Partizan training before they carried out a series of bombings in Gothenburg, Sweden. + +In August 2016, [[Viktor Melin]] (age approximately 23) and [[Anton Thulin]] (age approximately 20), both members of the Nordic Resistance Movement's Gothenburg cell, traveled to [[St. Petersburg]] and attended the Partizan training course. The training included explosives instruction. Upon returning to Sweden, Melin and Thulin, along with a third defendant [[Jimmy Jonasson]], carried out three bombings in early 2017: a car bomb at a refugee shelter in Torslanda on January 17; a bomb at a shelter for asylum seekers in January; and a bomb at a cafe frequented by left-wing activists. + +Swedish prosecutor [[Mats Ljungqvist]] stated in court: "Attending this paramilitary camp in St. Petersburg was a key step in Melin and Thulin's radicalization. We also believe it may be the place where they learned to manufacture the bombs that they used in Gothenburg." On July 7, 2017, Gothenburg District Court convicted all three; sentences ranged from 18 months to eight and a half years. DNA from bomb fragments matched Melin. The Swedish prosecutor's explicit attribution of the Gothenburg bombings to Partizan training provided the primary factual basis for the U.S. State Department's April 2020 SDGT designation.[^3][^4] + +### Atomwaffen Division Training + +RIM's most directly documented American nexus involves members of [[Atomwaffen Division]]. In 2018, AWD leader [[Kaleb Cole]] of Olympia, [[Washington state]], and AWD member [[Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh]], also of Olympia, traveled to Europe on a trip that included, according to multiple investigative accounts, passage through [[Ukraine]] via the Donbas green corridor into [[Russia]], followed by attendance at Partizan training in St. Petersburg. The two subsequently traveled through Ukraine, entered Poland, and photographed themselves at [[Auschwitz]] concentration camp. Cole later returned to the United States and continued directing AWD's operational activities until his February 2020 federal arrest.[^5] + +Bruce-Umbaugh was arrested and charged in the Northern District of Texas. He pleaded guilty on February 3, 2020, to possessing firearms and ammunition as a prohibited person, and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on April 28, 2020, before U.S. District Judge Terry Means in Fort Worth. The federal court record (5:19-cr-00130, N.D. Tex.) is the documentary basis for the Russia trip detail appearing in the government's prosecution materials.[^6] + +Cole was separately prosecuted in the [[Western District of Washington]] (case 2:20-cr-00032) for the [[Operation Erste Saule]] harassment campaign. He was convicted on five counts including civil rights conspiracy and sentenced to 84 months. The Russia trip appeared in government submissions in his case as background on AWD's transnational connections.[^5] + +In approximately 2020, RIM provided additional training to other American nationals affiliated with AWD at its St. Petersburg facilities, in a separate arrangement from the 2018 Cole/Bruce-Umbaugh trip. This is documented in [[CTC West Point]] reporting on the skull-mask neo-fascist network's transnational structure.[^7] + +### German Training Operations + +In 2020, RIM provided training at Partizan to members of the youth wings of two German far-right political parties: the [[National Democratic Party of Germany]] (NPD) and [[Der dritte Weg]] (The Third Path). Participants received instruction in firearms, explosives, and close combat. The training was documented by German investigative reporting and confirmed by [[Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty]]. Several graduates of the Partizan training, including German and Finnish participants, subsequently joined [[Russian-backed separatist militias]] fighting in eastern Ukraine.[^4] + +### U.S. Government Designations + +On April 7, 2020, the State Department designated RIM, Vorobyev, Gariev, and Trushchalov as SDGTs under [[Executive Order 13224]]. This was the first white supremacist terrorist designation in U.S. history. Counterterrorism Coordinator [[Ambassador Nathan Sales]] explained at a press briefing that the designation was grounded in RIM providing training "for acts of terrorism" specifically through Partizan, citing the Gothenburg bombings as the documented case. The designation triggers asset-blocking and transactional prohibitions under U.S. law for anyone who deals with these individuals or the organization.[^1] + +On June 15, 2022, the [[U.S. Treasury Department]]'s [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) designated two additional supporters of RIM as SDGTs, pursuant to [[Executive Order 13224]]. Treasury's press release (jy0817) documented this supplemental designation. The identity of the two individuals named in the June 2022 action was not reproduced in available open-source summaries consulted for this entry; the OFAC SDN list entry and Treasury press release contain the authoritative names.[^9] + +### UK Proscription + +The [[United Kingdom]] proscribed RIM as a terrorist organization in 2025, following a multi-year debate in which parliamentary questions in the Commons had raised the matter. [[Searchlight Magazine]] reported on the UK Home Office proscription order, which extended to RIM the same legal framework applied to other proscribed organizations under the [[Terrorism Act 2000]]. The exact Statutory Instrument number and date of the UK proscription are not confirmed in materials reviewed for this entry; see open thread in _NOTES.md.[^10] + +### Russian State Tolerance and the Non-Prosecution Pattern + +RIM formally opposes Putin's government on monarchist grounds, and this has been used to argue that it operates independently of state direction. However, three structural facts bear on the question of state tolerance: + +First, RIM operated Partizan as an international training hub for years while Russian security services took no action, despite Russia's explicit designation of multiple of RIM's Western trainees' organizations as extremist. + +Second, RIM participated in the conflict in the Donbas by sending its [[Imperial Legion]] volunteer fighters to eastern Ukraine in 2014, fighting alongside Russian-backed separatists. This participation was not prosecuted. + +Third, RIM is based in St. Petersburg, where [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] (The Base founder) also relocated in 2017-2018. The co-location of two designated terrorist organizations with Western recruitment mandates in the same city, with neither facing Russian prosecution, describes an environment of consistent state tolerance. + +The 2026 peer-reviewed article in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism concludes that RIM's transnational expansion was enabled by the convergence of permissive conflict arenas, shared ideology as a substitute for ethnic kinship in recruiting, and "tacit home-state toleration" enabling Partizan to function as an international terrorism-training hub. The article stops short of asserting direct state direction.[^8] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of State. "The U.S. Department of State's Designation of the Russian Imperial Movement and its Leaders as Global Terrorists." April 7, 2020. https://2017-2021.state.gov/the-u-s-department-of-states-designation-of-the-russian-imperial-movement-and-its-leaders-as-global-terrorists/index.html; U.S. Embassy in Georgia, "Briefing With Coordinator for Counterterrorism Amb. Sales." April 7, 2020. https://ge.usembassy.gov/briefing-with-coordinator-for-counterterrorism-amb-sales-on-the-u-s-designation-of-russian-imperial-movement-and-its-leaders-as-global-terrorists/ +[^2]: Counter Extremism Project. "Russian Imperial Movement (RIM)." https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/russian-imperial-movement-rim +[^3]: BuzzFeed News (Lester Feder). "These Swedish Nazis Trained In Russia Before Bombing A Center For Asylum Seekers." https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lesterfeder/these-swedish-nazis-trained-in-russia; The Daily Beast. "Russian Extremists Are Training Right-Wing Terrorists From Western Europe." https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-extremists-are-training-right-wing-terrorists-from-western-europe/ +[^4]: VICE News. "German Neo Nazis Are Getting Explosives Training at a White Supremacist Camp in Russia." https://www.vice.com/en/article/german-neo-nazis-are-getting-explosives-training-at-a-white-supremacist-camp-in-russia/; RFE/RL. "Report: German Neo-Nazis Training At Russian Terrorist Camp." https://www.rferl.org/a/german-neo-nazi-training-in-russia/30655860.html +[^5]: Malcontent News. "Washington's Defunct Atomwaffen Division had Deep Ties to the Terrorist Org, Russia Imperialist Movement." July 4, 2022. https://malcontentment.com/washingtons-defunct-atomwaffen-division-had-deep-ties-to-the-terrorist-org-russia-imperialist-movement/; Cipher Brief. "Examining Atomwaffen Division's Transnational Linkages." https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/examining-atomwaffen-divisions-transnational-linkages +[^6]: GovInfo. USA v. Bruce-Umbaugh, Case 5:19-cr-00130 (N.D. Tex.). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-txnd-5_19-cr-00130/USCOURTS-txnd-5_19-cr-00130-0 +[^7]: CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ +[^8]: Journal of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. "Ideological affinity, state toleration and the transnational expansion of the far-right Russian imperial movement." Published online January 22, 2026. doi:10.1080/17440572.2026.2618779. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17440572.2026.2618779 +[^9]: U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC. "U.S. Sanctions Members of Russian Violent Extremist Group." Press release jy0817. June 15, 2022. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0817; OFAC Counter Terrorism Designations, April 6, 2020 action: https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20200406 +[^10]: Searchlight Magazine. "UK bans far-right Russian terror group." July 2025. https://searchlightmagazine.com/2025/07/uk-bans-far-right-russian-terror-group/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Scattered Spider.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Scattered Spider.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7b64ea92 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Scattered Spider.md @@ -0,0 +1,92 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - TheCom + - CyberCom + - Cybercrime + - SIMSwapping + - Ransomware + - Phishing + - CryptocurrencyTheft + - FederalCase + - USA + - UK +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Scattered Spider is a Cyber Com cybercriminal group of English-speaking teenagers and young adults known for SMS phishing, SIM swapping, and ransomware against major corporations, with at least eight members charged or convicted as of mid-2026." +start: 2021 +location: "Online (USA/UK primarily)" +--- + +[[Scattered Spider]] is a loosely organized cybercriminal group operating within the Cyber Com sphere of [[The Com]] ecosystem. It is composed predominantly of English-speaking teenagers and young adults based in the [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]], who coalesced through online gaming communities and criminal forums. Scattered Spider became the highest-profile Cyber Com group through a series of attacks on major corporations between 2022 and 2025, culminating in the 2023 ransomware attacks on [[MGM Resorts]] and [[Caesars Entertainment]]. The group is also tracked under the aliases 0ktapus, Roasted 0ktapus, UNC3944, Octo Tempest, Storm-0875, and Starfraud, with different aliases assigned by different cybersecurity research firms. As of mid-2026, at least eight individuals had been charged in the United States or United Kingdom in connection with Scattered Spider operations.[^1] + +### The Com Connection + +[[SANS Institute]] and [[CyberScoop]] both document Scattered Spider as a product of The Com's Cyber Com sphere, describing the group as having "evolved out of The Com" with "a common set of intrusion techniques observed across multiple high-profile breaches." The Com's Cyber Com sphere uses SIM swapping, IP grabbing, doxxing, and swatting as shared tradecraft across groups; Scattered Spider adopted and industrialized these methods at scale. The broader Com ecosystem includes participants in the Sextortion Com sphere (dominated by [[764 Network|764]]) and the Offline Com sphere; Scattered Spider's operations are confined to the Cyber Com sphere, though its members overlap socially with the broader community. Law enforcement intelligence documents obtained by CyberScoop confirm the FBI investigates the Com as a unified threat rather than as separate phenomena.[^2] + +### History and Operations + +Scattered Spider is believed to have first coalesced around May 2021-2022, initially focusing on attacks against telecommunications companies and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms to enable SIM swapping. The group ran a [[Telegram]] channel from approximately 2022 that served as a hub for SIM-swapping operations targeting major wireless carriers in the U.S. and UK. + +#### 2022: The 0ktapus Campaign + +In summer 2022, Scattered Spider executed a mass SMS phishing campaign against more than 130 organizations, building convincing spoofed [[Okta]] login pages to harvest credentials and session tokens at scale. Documented victims included [[Twilio]], [[Cloudflare]], [[DoorDash]], [[Mailchimp]], and [[LastPass]]. The campaign was named "0ktapus" by security researchers after the fake Okta infrastructure used. The November 2024 federal indictment covers the period September 2021 through April 2023 and charges the five defendants with attacking at least 45 companies and stealing at least $11 million in cryptocurrency from at least 29 victims. + +#### 2023: MGM and Caesars + +In September 2023, Scattered Spider executed its most consequential operations. For the [[Caesars Entertainment]] attack, the group used social engineering to gain access, obtained sensitive data, and extorted Caesars for a $15 million ransom payment (half the original demand of $30 million). For the [[MGM Resorts International]] attack, attackers used voice phishing (vishing) to impersonate an IT helpdesk employee, conducted SIM swapping, obtained MFA reset codes, gained network access, and deployed [[ALPHV]]/BlackCat ransomware across MGM's ESXi servers. The MGM attack caused approximately one week of operational disruption and an estimated $100 million in lost revenue and recovery costs. + +#### 2025: UK Retail Attacks + +Scattered Spider or affiliated actors attacked three major UK retailers in 2025: [[Marks and Spencer]], [[Harrods]], and [[Co-op]]. The Marks and Spencer attack caused significant operational disruption. The UK [[National Crime Agency]] (NCA) and [[City of London Police]] arrested four individuals in connection with these attacks in July 2025. + +#### 2025: Healthcare and Infrastructure + +The September 2025 DOJ indictment against [[Thalha Jubair]] alleged participation in at least 120 cyberattacks between May 2022 and September 2025, including against [[SSM Health Care Corporation]] and attempted attacks against [[Sutter Health]], with aggregate ransom payments from victims of at least $115 million.[^3] + +### Tactics + +Scattered Spider's documented methods include: + +- SMS phishing ("smishing"): mass text campaigns mimicking IT help desks and single sign-on portals +- Voice phishing ("vishing"): impersonating employees or IT staff in calls to corporate help desks +- SIM swapping: bribing or deceiving telecom employees to transfer a victim's phone number, enabling MFA bypass +- MFA push bombing: repeatedly sending authentication requests to exhaust and confuse a target +- Social engineering of IT help desks to issue MFA resets to attacker-controlled devices +- Ransomware deployment (via ALPHV/BlackCat partnership) after network access achieved +- Cryptocurrency theft via compromised exchange accounts +- Data exfiltration and extortion independent of ransomware + +### Members and Legal Proceedings + +#### November 20, 2024 Indictment (Central District of California) + +The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California unsealed charges against five defendants on November 20, 2024, covering the period September 2021 through April 2023. All five were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft (maximum 20 years per conspiracy count; mandatory 2-year consecutive term for aggravated identity theft): + +- [[Ahmed Hossam Eldin Elbadawy]], 23, of College Station, Texas (alias "AD"): still facing charges as of mid-2026 +- [[Evans Onyeaka Osiebo]], 21, of Dallas, Texas: still facing charges as of mid-2026 +- [[Noah Michael Urban]], 20, of Palm Coast, Florida (aliases "King Bob," "Gustavo Fring"): pleaded guilty; sentenced +- [[Joel Martin Evans]], 26, of Jacksonville, North Carolina (alias "joeleoli"): still facing charges as of mid-2026 +- [[Tyler Robert Buchanan]], 22, of the United Kingdom (alias "tylerb"): pleaded guilty; sentencing pending + +[[Noah Michael Urban]] pleaded guilty in April 2025 in the Middle District of Florida (Jacksonville) and Central District of California. He was sentenced on August 20, 2025, by U.S. District Judge [[Harvey Schlesinger]] in Jacksonville, Florida, to 120 months (10 years) in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and $13,049,490.64 in restitution to 59 victim individuals. Urban was the first Scattered Spider member to be sentenced. Prosecutors had requested eight years; Urban's defense requested five years; Judge Schlesinger exceeded both recommendations. + +[[Tyler Robert Buchanan]] was arrested by Spanish authorities in June 2024 while attempting to board a flight to Italy. He was extradited to the United States and entered federal custody in April 2025. Buchanan pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, admitting his role in the 2022 SMS phishing campaign against major technology companies. He received an additional wire fraud count compared to the other four November 2024 defendants, giving him a potential maximum term of approximately 22 years. Sentencing is scheduled for August 21, 2026. + +[[Remington Goy Ogletree]], 19, of Texas and Florida, was charged on October 30, 2024 with wire fraud in connection with conduct between October 2023 and May 2024. He was arrested in California shortly after charges were filed. Ogletree is alleged to have phished nearly 150 employees of a U.S. financial institution, gained unauthorized access to telecommunications company networks, and used that access to deliver more than 8.6 million SMS phishing messages targeting [[Gemini]] and [[KuCoin]] cryptocurrency exchange users, enabling theft of over $4 million in cryptocurrency. He is at least the sixth Scattered Spider member to face federal charges. + +[[Thalha Jubair]], 19, of East London, was arrested at his home on September 16, 2025, by the NCA and City of London Police. The District of New Jersey unsealed charges against Jubair on September 18, 2025: conspiracy to commit computer fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and substantive computer fraud counts. Jubair is alleged under the alias "EarthtoStar" (also "Brad," "Austin," "@autistic," and "Operator") to have participated in at least 120 network intrusions affecting at least 47 U.S. organizations between May 2022 and September 2025, generating at least $115 million in ransom payments to the group. He also faces UK charges under the Computer Misuse Act for the Transport for London (TfL) attack and under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act for refusing to disclose device passwords. He and co-defendant Owen Flowers denied the TfL charges at Southwark Crown Court. If convicted on all U.S. counts, Jubair faces a maximum of 95 years in prison. + +[[Owen David Flowers]], 18, of Walsall, West Midlands, was arrested alongside Jubair on September 16, 2025. Flowers used the hacker handles "bo764," "Holy," and "Nazi" and was alleged to have participated in the September 2023 MGM attack; he gave anonymous media interviews about the MGM hack in the days following the attack. Flowers and Jubair denied the Computer Misuse Act charges at Southwark Crown Court. + +#### July 2025 UK Arrests + +The NCA arrested four individuals in July 2025 in connection with the 2025 UK retail attacks (Marks and Spencer, Harrods, Co-op). Of the four arrested, a 20-year-old woman, two 19-year-old men, and a 17-year-old were charged with computer misuse, extortion, money laundering, and membership in a criminal organization. The names of the July 2025 arrestees other than Thalha Jubair and Owen Flowers (arrested in September) were not publicly released in available reporting as of mid-2026.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CISA/FBI. "Cybersecurity Advisory AA23-320A: Scattered Spider." November 2023. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-320a; Krebs on Security. "UK Arrests Four in 'Scattered Spider' Ransom Group." July 2025. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/07/uk-charges-four-in-scattered-spider-ransom-group/ +[^2]: SANS Institute. "Defending Against SCATTERED SPIDER and The Com with Cybercrime Intelligence." https://www.sans.org/blog/defending-against-scattered-spider-and-the-com-with-cybercrime-intelligence/; CyberScoop. "Scottish man pleads guilty to attack spree that created Scattered Spider's notoriety." April 2026. https://cyberscoop.com/the-com-scattered-spider-hacker-tyler-robert-buchanan-guilty-plea/ +[^3]: Krebs on Security. "Feds Tie 'Scattered Spider' Duo to $115M in Ransoms." September 2025. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/09/feds-tie-scattered-spider-duo-to-115m-in-ransoms/; Fortune. "London teenager orchestrated 'help desk' extortion scheme against 47 U.S. companies." September 20, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/09/20/teenager-scattered-spider-extortion-ransom-arrested/ +[^4]: Krebs on Security. "'Scattered Spider' Member 'Tylerb' Pleads Guilty." April 2026. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/04/scattered-spider-member-tylerb-pleads-guilty/; DataBreaches.Net. "Noah Urban aka 'King Bob' of Scattered Spider, sentenced to 10 years in prison, $13 million restitution." August 21, 2025. https://databreaches.net/2025/08/21/noah-urban-aka-king-bob-of-scattered-spider-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison-13-million-restitution/; SecurityWeek. "Suspected Scattered Spider Hacker Pleads Guilty." https://www.securityweek.com/suspected-scattered-spider-hacker-pleads-guilty/; The Hacker News. "U.K. Arrests Two Teen Scattered Spider Hackers Linked to August 2024 TfL Cyber Attack." September 2025. https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/uk-arrest-two-teen-scattered-spider.html diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Searchlight Magazine.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Searchlight Magazine.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..875b05d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Searchlight Magazine.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - UK + - Journalism + - AntiFascist + - Investigative + - NeoNazi + - SpecialBranch +start: 1962 +location: "London, United Kingdom" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Searchlight is a British anti-fascist investigative magazine founded in 1962 that ran informants inside Combat 18 and the British neo-Nazi movement throughout the 1990s, published the first identification of David Myatt as Anton Long in April 1998, and worked with BBC Panorama to document David Copeland's links to the National Socialist Movement." +--- + +[[Searchlight Magazine]] is a British [[anti-fascist]] investigative magazine founded in 1962 and based in [[London]]. It specialises in documenting far-right extremism in the United Kingdom and internationally. Searchlight ran informants inside [[Combat 18]], [[Blood and Honour]], and related neo-Nazi organisations throughout the 1990s, most notably [[Darren Wells]] (alias McKenzie), who co-authored the C18 booklet with [[Wilf Browning]] and acknowledged in 2002 that he had been working as a Searchlight/Special Branch informant. The magazine published the first public identification of [[David Myatt]] as the founder of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] under the pseudonym [[Anton Long]] in its April 1998 cover story. In 1999, Searchlight journalists worked with BBC *Panorama* to investigate the links between [[David Copeland]] and Myatt's [[National Socialist Movement (UK, 1997)]].[^1] + +### Founding and Format + +Searchlight was founded in 1962, initially as an activist newsletter, and developed over subsequent decades into a specialist investigative publication. Its editorial approach combines journalism with a network of informants embedded in far-right organisations. Its long-run investigation of the British neo-Nazi scene in the 1980s and 1990s produced some of the most detailed primary-source reporting on those organisations available in the public record. In the early 2000s, editor [[Gerry Gable]] and journalist [[Nick Lowles]] were its most prominent public voices. Lowles subsequently left Searchlight to co-found [[HOPE not hate]].[^2] + +### The Darren Wells Operation + +[[Darren Wells]], operating under the alias McKenzie, was Searchlight's most significant informant inside Combat 18. He was embedded in the Wilf Browning faction of C18 and co-authored the C18 booklet, one of the organisation's primary propaganda and recruitment documents. Wells became Browning's trusted associate and travelled with him to meet ITV's [[World in Action]] journalists in 1997. During that period he developed an independent relationship with Nick Lowles and, according to Lowles's own account, eventually became one of the most important informants Searchlight had ever run. In 2002, Wells publicly acknowledged his informant role.[^3] + +Larry O'Hara of [[Notes From The Borderland]] has analysed Wells's role critically, arguing that Searchlight's handling of Wells represents an ambiguous case of state-adjacent intelligence operations by a private anti-fascist organisation. O'Hara contends that Wells's position within the Browning faction, combined with allegations against Sargent, created the mutual suspicion that escalated into the [[Christopher Castle]] murder in 1997. The magazine has disputed this analysis.[^3] + +### The April 1998 Cover Story: Myatt and O9A + +Searchlight's April 1998 issue carried a cover photograph of David Myatt taken at a Combat 18 demonstration in London, with the headline "The Most Evil Nazi in Britain." The five-page cover story identified Myatt as Anton Long, the founder of the Order of Nine Angles, and described O9A as "a secret society that prides itself on following traditional Satanism... formed by Myatt himself in the 1980s." This was the first public identification of the Myatt/Long connection in any publication. The attribution predated any O9A interest in constructing a counter-narrative, which gives it evidential weight in the scholarly attribution debate.[^4] + +The story drew on Searchlight's monitoring of Myatt through the C18 period and described his trajectory in neo-Nazi politics from [[Colin Jordan]]'s [[British Movement]] through the [[National Democratic Freedom Movement]], his involvement in C18, and his founding of the [[National Socialist Movement (UK, 1997)]] with [[Steve Sargent]] in June 1997.[^4] + +### BBC Panorama Joint Investigation (1999) + +Following [[David Copeland]]'s April 1999 nail-bomb campaign, Searchlight and BBC *Panorama* conducted a joint investigation into the links between Copeland and the NSM and the degree to which he had been influenced by Myatt's writings. The investigation documented that Copeland had studied "[[A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution]]" and had been welcomed into the NSM as Southern Regional Organiser by [[Tony Williams]], the leader who succeeded Myatt. The joint programme ran on the BBC after Copeland's trial and contributed to public pressure for Myatt's prosecution, which did not result in charges.[^5] + +### O9A Coverage + +Searchlight has continued to document O9A as a current terrorism threat. In June 2023, the magazine published "What is the Order of the Nine Angles?" and in April 2025 an anniversary piece on the Copeland attacks, maintaining its long-run documentation of the Myatt nexus. The magazine has consistently supported calls for O9A proscription.[^6] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Notes From The Borderland. "Combat 18 and MI5: Some Background Notes." https://borderland.co.uk/combat-18-mi5-some-background-notes/ +[^2]: Hope Not Hate. "About." hopenothate.org.uk (Nick Lowles co-founder background). +[^3]: Notes From The Borderland (Larry O'Hara). "Combat 18 and MI5: Some Background Notes." https://borderland.co.uk/combat-18-mi5-some-background-notes/; O'Hara, Larry. *Turning Up the Heat: MI5 After the Cold War.* Phoenix Press, 1994. +[^4]: Searchlight Magazine, April 1998. Cover story: "The Most Evil Nazi in Britain." Documented via secondary sources; original issue in Searchlight archive. +[^5]: Searchlight Magazine. "25 years on: The hunt for the London nailbomber," April 2024. https://searchlightmagazine.com/2024/04/25-years-on-the-hunt-for-the-london-nailbomber/ +[^6]: Searchlight Magazine. "What is the Order of the Nine Angles?" June 2023. https://searchlightmagazine.com/2023/06/what-is-the-order-of-the-nine-angles/; "Remembering the Admiral Duncan attack," April 2025. https://searchlightmagazine.com/2025/04/remembering-the-admiral-duncan-attack/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Stop Hate Brasil.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Stop Hate Brasil.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8f8a6b3f --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Stop Hate Brasil.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - Brazil + - Accelerationism + - CounterExtremism + - NeoNazi +location: "Brazil" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Stop Hate Brasil is a Brazilian NGO founded by researcher Michele Prado that monitors far-right extremist networks online, with a particular focus on the Terrorgram Collective's Brazilian infrastructure, and has served as a consulting partner to ABIN and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security since 2023." +--- + +Stop Hate Brasil (also rendered Stop Hate Brazil) is a Brazilian non-governmental organization founded by [[Michele Prado]] to identify, document, and counter far-right extremist content on digital platforms in Brazil, with particular emphasis on the radicalization of children and adolescents through online channels. The organization is funded in part by the [[Social Change Initiative]] and maintains a formal voluntary consulting relationship with Brazilian government agencies including [[ABIN]] (Agência Brasileira de Inteligência) and the [[Ministry of Justice and Public Security]].[^1] + +### Activity + +Stop Hate Brasil's primary documented contribution to the investigation of Brazilian accelerationist networks was Prado's 2023 formal report to ABIN and the Ministry of Justice identifying Telegram channels linked to [[Terrorgram Collective]] members operating in Brazil, including channels associated with the pseudonym "Wolf Boy Winter" and with [[Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira]], subsequently designated by the US government as a [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] in January 2025. The organization has also documented the network's exploitation of gaming platforms (including [[Roblox]], [[Fortnite]], and [[Minecraft]]) and YouTube recommendation algorithms to introduce adolescents to extremist content.[^2] + +By 2024, Stop Hate Brasil had identified more than 40 violent incidents in Brazilian school settings connected to some degree with online extremist networks over a three-year span, and had flagged that at least two [[Terrorgram Collective]] channels active in Brazil had been created by adolescents rather than adults, indicating that the network had successfully recruited Brazilian minors into its content-production infrastructure. Stop Hate Brasil issued public-facing reports, referred to as the "Sons do Odio" (Sons of Hate) report series, documenting these findings for civil society audiences.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Social Change Initiative. "Michele Prado." https://www.socialchangeinitiative.com/michele-prado + +[^2]: GNET. "Terrorgram and Youth Radicalisation: Understanding Brazil's Online Extremist Landscape," November 22, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/11/22/terrorgram-and-youth-radicalisation-understanding-brazils-online-extremist-landscape/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Tempel ov Blood.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Tempel ov Blood.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..268f2198 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Tempel ov Blood.md @@ -0,0 +1,55 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - O9A + - NeoNazi + - Satanism + - TemplovBlood + - MartinetPress + - AtomwaffenDivision + - USA +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Tempel ov Blood is the American O9A nexion whose 2017 infiltration of Atomwaffen Division reshaped that network toward occultist violence, operating the Martinet Press publishing arm that distributed Iron Gates and related texts into the accelerationist ecosystem." +start: 2004 +location: "Lexington, South Carolina" +--- + +[[Tempel ov Blood]] (ToB) is the primary American [[nexion]] (local cell) of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A), operating in the United States as an autonomous organizational unit within the O9A's decentralized global structure. Under the leadership of [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] and through its publishing arm [[Martinet Press]], Tempel ov Blood produced the O9A texts that reached the widest American audience, infiltrated and effectively took over [[Atomwaffen Division]] beginning in 2017, and supplied the ideological framework that AWD subsequently transmitted through [[Terrorgram]] channels into the broader accelerationist ecosystem from which the [[764 Network|764]] network drew aesthetics and radicalization material. + +### Structure and Identity + +Tempel ov Blood presents itself as an O9A nexion oriented specifically toward an American context, emphasizing a synthesis of National Socialist political commitments and Satanic occult practice. Within the O9A's decentralized framework, ToB is formally autonomous, connected to the broader O9A tradition through shared texts, aesthetics, and the initiatory doctrine of [[Insight Roles]], rather than through any chain of command from a British parent organization. + +ToB operates Martinet Press as its publishing and distribution vehicle. Martinet Press was co-directed by Sutter and his wife [[Jillian Hoy]]. The press published physical books sold through neo-Nazi and occult channels and distributed digital versions through the O9A's own website (o9a.org) and through Atomwaffen Division's online platforms.[^1] + +### Martinet Press Publications + +The three most significant Martinet Press publications in terms of documented distribution and radicalization impact are: + +*[[Iron Gates]]* (2014, 312 pp.): A novel set seventy years after a global nuclear war and centered on a gang of Satanists moving through a post-apocalyptic American landscape while committing acts of extreme violence. Within the first fifty pages the book depicts infanticide, cannibalism, rape, sodomy, torture, and pedophilia, all framed within an O9A initiatory context. [[John Cameron Denton]] made *Iron Gates* required reading for new Atomwaffen Division members. The book is preserved in full at the Internet Archive.[^2] + +*Liber 333*: An O9A instructional text authored and published through Martinet Press. + +*Bluebird*: An O9A text published through Martinet Press. + +A 2024 academic analysis of the Martinet Press catalog described the books as glorifying "mass murder, terrorism, sadism, and child abuse" in a sustained literary form intended to desensitize readers to extreme violence as a preparation for O9A-style initiatory transgression.[^1] + +### AWD Infiltration + +Tempel ov Blood's takeover of Atomwaffen Division was accomplished through the personal relationship between Sutter and Denton. Denton invited ToB members into AWD in the spring of 2017, attracted to the combination of National Socialist politics and Satanic occultism. Sutter joined AWD under the alias "swissdiscipline" and rapidly became a senior figure. Through his influence, at least nine O9A/ToB members held key positions in AWD at the peak of the relationship.[^3] + +The takeover was contested. AWD members who objected to Satanism as ideological contamination of their National Socialism left the group. Those who remained were reshaped by the ToB framework, which construed the group's violence as evidence of initiatory transgression rather than merely political action. This reframing deepened the group's capacity for violence by giving it a sacred dimension: killing was not just strategically useful but spiritually required for those pursuing the O9A Seven Fold Way. + +The ToB influence on AWD directly shaped [[Ethan Phelan Melzer]]'s plot to facilitate a mass-casualty attack on his own Army unit by transmitting classified information to O9A contacts. Melzer operated in what court documents described as the "RapeWaffen" subgroup, which combined AWD and O9A identity and whose assigned reading included *Iron Gates*, *Liber 333*, and *Bluebird*.[^3] + +### Distribution Pipeline + +Tempel ov Blood's documented role in the radicalization pipeline from O9A ideology to 764-adjacent networks runs through Martinet Press. The books ToB published circulated through Terrorgram channels, which were cited in the manifestos of [[Cain Clark]] and [[Caleb Vazquez]], the perpetrators of the [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting]]. The pipeline from O9A doctrine to ToB publication to AWD required reading to Terrorgram distribution to contemporary lone-actor inspiration is one of the best-documented radicalization chains in the current American extremist landscape. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ +[^2]: Internet Archive. *Iron Gates* (Tempel ov Blood / Martinet Press, 2014). https://archive.org/details/tempel-ov-blood-iron-gates-text +[^3]: SPLC. "Atomwaffen Division." Extremist Files. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/atomwaffen-division/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Terrorgram Collective.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Terrorgram Collective.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8808b04f --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Terrorgram Collective.md @@ -0,0 +1,169 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - SaintsCulture + - Telegram + - DomesticTerrorism + - International + - TerroristDesignation + - AWD + - FashFront +summary: "Terrorgram Collective was an international accelerationist neo-Nazi Telegram network linked to attacks in multiple countries, generating prosecutions across the US, Canada, Slovakia, Denmark, and Australia with sentences totaling over 75 years of imprisonment across named defendants as of May 2026." +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2019 +location: "Telegram (online)" +--- + +[[Terrorgram Collective]] was an international accelerationist neo-Nazi network that coalesced on [[Telegram]] during the summer of 2019, co-founded by [[Pavol Beňadik]] of [[Slovakia]] and [[Matthew Althorpe]] of [[Canada]], in the immediate aftermath of [[Brenton Tarrant]]'s Christchurch mosque attacks. At its peak, the network operated through approximately 400 channels and 200 group chats, produced three major zine-format propaganda publications and a documentary-style video series, developed and distributed the "Saints Culture" framework glorifying mass shooters as martyrs, and was linked by a joint [[ProPublica]] and [[PBS FRONTLINE]] investigation to 35 attacks and plots internationally. The [[United Kingdom]] became the first country in the world to proscribe it as a terrorist organization on April 26, 2024; the [[United States]], [[Australia]], and [[Canada]] followed with formal designations in 2025. + +### Formation and Origins + +The Terrorgram Collective emerged directly from the deplatforming wave that followed the March 2019 Christchurch massacre, as accelerationist networks displaced from mainstream platforms migrated to Telegram. Beňadik (born approximately 2000, alias "Slovakbro"), then approximately 19 years old, created at least five neo-Nazi Telegram channels in the immediate post-Christchurch period and began assembling what became the Terrorgram ecosystem. He was joined in this effort by Althorpe (born approximately 1996, Thorold, [[Ontario]]), a Canadian who had previously served as a propagandist for [[Atomwaffen Division]] from approximately 2018 before transitioning to Telegram-based operations. + +Terrorgram was the primary successor space to [[Iron March]] (2011-2017) and Fascist Forge (2018) in the international accelerationist online ecosystem, inheriting those forums' membership base and their shared commitment to [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]* as foundational text and to lone-wolf terrorism as the preferred operational mode.[^1] + +[[Brandon Russell]], the imprisoned AWD founder, was documented using multiple Telegram pseudonyms to participate in Terrorgram-adjacent channels and to share PDFs encouraging acts of terrorism, documenting his continued reach into the ecosystem from prison. + +### Propaganda Publications + +Between June 2021 and July 2022, the Terrorgram inner collective produced three major publications that became the network's most operationally consequential output: + +*Militant Accelerationism: A Collective Handbook* (136 pp., June 16, 2021): An ideological and tactical primer framing terrorism as "the language of the unheard" and providing guidance for lone-wolf attacks. Contained explicit calls for violence and instructions for identifying targets. + +*Do It For The Gram: The Collected Writings of Terrorgram* (268 pp., December 16, 2021): A text-only compilation maintaining and elaborating the first publication's operational argument. + +*The Hard Reset: A Terrorgram Production* (261 pp., July 14, 2022): The network's most operationally specific publication, with upgraded visual design and detailed instructions for violent attacks and critical infrastructure sabotage including guides for bomb-making and destruction of electrical substations. Its production marked the formalization of the inner collective's structure under [[Dallas Humber]] and [[Matthew Robert Allison]]. The FBI's September 2024 indictment identified all three publications as the principal evidence of material support.[^2] + +Audiobooks of all three publications were produced and distributed through the Terrorgram channel network. + +### Saints Culture + +Terrorgram's most influential ideological contribution to the accelerationist ecosystem was the formalization and industrial-scale production of "Saints Culture" content: trading-card-style graphics profiling far-right mass shooters with their death tolls, methods, photographs, and attack dates, framing them as martyrs worthy of veneration and emulation. Monthly calendars marked anniversaries of past attacks and perpetrators' birthdays. After the October 2022 Bratislava shooting by [[Juraj Krajčík]], Humber posted on Terrorgram: "St. Juraj Krajčík, Tarrant's sixth disciple and Terrorgram's first saint," formalizing the post-attack canonization ritual. + +The Saints Culture framework drew on Tarrant's self-framing as a "saint" in his own manifesto and on earlier [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) and Atomwaffen Division cult-of-martyrdom aesthetics, but Terrorgram systematized and scaled it.[^3] + +### Federal Prosecution: United States v. Humber, 2:24-cr-00257 + +The primary U.S. prosecution was filed in the [[Eastern District of California]] as case number 2:24-cr-00257 ([[United States v. Humber]]). The 37-page indictment, filed September 5, 2024 and unsealed September 9, 2024, named Humber and Allison as joint defendants on all 15 counts: conspiracy (1 count); soliciting hate crimes (4 counts); soliciting the murder of federal officials (3 counts); doxing federal officials (3 counts); threatening communications (1 count); distributing bombmaking instructions (2 counts); and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists under 18 U.S.C. § 2339A (1 count). Combined maximum exposure was 220 years. + +The material support charge under § 2339A (which, unlike § 2339B, is not limited to designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations) was described by [[Lawfare]] as a significant application of the statute to an online white-supremacist content network. The prosecution was handled jointly by DOJ's [[Civil Rights Division]], [[National Security Division]], and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California. + +Humber pleaded guilty to all 15 counts on August 8, 2025. U.S. District Judge [[Dena Coggins]] sentenced her to 360 months (30 years) in federal prison plus lifetime supervised release on December 19, 2025. Allison pleaded not guilty; his trial remained pending in the Eastern District of California as of May 2026.[^4] + +### All Named Defendants: Full Prosecution Record + +#### United States + +[[Dallas Humber]] (Elk Grove, California, age 35 at sentencing): Case 2:24-cr-00257, E.D. Cal. Arrested September 5, 2024. Pleaded guilty to all 15 counts August 8, 2025. Sentenced December 19, 2025, to 360 months (30 years) plus lifetime supervised release by Judge Dena Coggins. No public cooperation agreement. + +[[Matthew Robert Allison]] (Boise, Idaho, age approximately 37 at arrest): Case 2:24-cr-00257, E.D. Cal. Arrested September 5, 2024. Pleaded not guilty. Trial pending as of May 2026. + +[[Noah Lamb]] (age 24 at indictment, Eastern District of California): Indicted June 26, 2025, unsealed July 2, 2025, on eight counts: conspiracy (1), soliciting murder of federal officials (3), doxing federal officials (3), threatening communications (1). Maximum exposure: 85 years. "The List" targeted U.S. senators, federal judges, a former attorney general, business leaders, journalists, and activists. Investigated by the [[FBI Sacramento Field Office]]. No plea or trial outcome as of May 2026. + +[[Alexander Lightner]] (Venice, Florida, age 27 at sentencing): Original charges filed January 2024 in the [[Middle District of Florida]] included interstate transmission of a threat to injure (threatening a mass casualty event) and unlawful possession of a silencer. Pleaded guilty March 11, 2025, to the firearm count only. Sentenced June 12, 2025, to 51 months (4 years 3 months) in federal prison. + +[[Andrew Takhistov]] (East Brunswick, New Jersey, age 18 at arrest): Charged in the [[District of New Jersey]] in July 2024 with one count of soliciting destruction of energy facilities (maximum 10 years). Pleaded not guilty. Plea status unresolved as of May 2026. + +[[Nikita Casap]] (Waukesha, Wisconsin, age 17 at arrest, 2025): Charged in Wisconsin state court with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and eight other felonies for the February 2025 murders of his mother, [[Tatiana Casap]], and stepfather, [[Donald Mayer]], committed to fund a planned drone assassination of President Trump. Pleaded guilty January 8, 2026 to the two homicide counts; remaining counts dismissed under plea agreement. Sentenced March 6, 2026 by Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge [[Ralph Ramirez]] to two consecutive life terms without possibility of parole. Federal investigation separately documented an assassination plot involving approximately $8,700 in Bitcoin transfers and contacts with Russian-speaking co-conspirators; no federal indictment publicly announced as of May 2026. DOJ identified him as "N.C." in Humber's August 2025 guilty plea factual basis, describing his murders as committed "in furtherance of his plot to assassinate a federal official." + +[[Skyler Philippi]] (Columbia, Tennessee, age 24 at plea): Charged in the [[Middle District of Tennessee]] with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction (18 U.S.C. § 2332a) and attempting to destroy an energy facility in Nashville using a drone equipped with what he believed to be C-4 explosive. Pleaded guilty September 9, 2025. Sentencing scheduled January 8, 2026; outcome not yet publicly reported as of May 2026. Philippi disclosed prior affiliation with Atomwaffen Division and the [[National Alliance]] during an August 2024 conversation with an undercover employee. + +#### Canada + +[[Matthew Althorpe]] (Thorold, Ontario, age approximately 27 at arrest): Arrested December 8, 2023. Charged under the Criminal Code of Canada with facilitating terrorist activity, instructing others to carry out terrorist activity, and committing an indictable offense for a terrorist group (8 original counts reduced to 3 on guilty plea). Pleaded guilty in Toronto. Sentenced March 27, 2026, to 20 years by Ontario Superior Court Justice [[Jane Kelly]], parole-eligible at 10 years. Justice Kelly found his propaganda inspired at least six attacks. + +[[Kristopher Erik Nippak]] (East York, Ontario): Arrested December 8, 2023, alongside Althorpe following an 18-month RCMP investigation covering alleged offenses from April 2018 onward. Charged with one count of participation in the activities of a terrorist group. Bail denied twice; subsequently granted bail with conditions. Judge-alone trial in Toronto scheduled to begin January 2026. + +#### Denmark + +[[Jeremy Meilhac]] (Copenhagen area, French-Danish national, born approximately 1995/1996): Charged by the [[Public Prosecution Service of Denmark]] with terrorism-related offenses under the Danish Penal Code for activities between approximately June 2023 and December 2024. Convicted by the [[Glostrup District Court]] on approximately April 21, 2026. Sentenced to six years in prison; Danish citizenship revoked; ordered expelled from Denmark following sentence. Found to have played an "active and significant role" in Terrorgram operations, collaborating with Humber to produce "saint cards" and distributing attacker manifesto audio recordings through the network. This was the first Danish court finding that Terrorgram constitutes a terrorist organization. Verdict appealed to the [[Danish High Court]]; outcome pending as of May 2026.[^13] + +#### Slovakia + +[[Pavol Beňadik]] (Slovakia, born approximately 2000): Arrested May 2022. Charged with inciting the overthrow of the democratic system and acts of terrorism, including publishing bomb-making and firearms-manufacture instructions and directly mentoring Juraj Krajčík. Sentenced to six years in a Slovak prison in November 2022. + +#### International SDGT Designations (Not Criminal Charges) + +Three individuals received U.S. Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) designations from the State Department on January 13, 2025, under Executive Order 13224: [[Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira]] (Brazil, Terrorgram channel administrator); [[Noah Licul]] (Croatia, senior Terrorgram member and former participant in [[Feuerkrieg Division]]-linked chats circa 2019-2020 under alias "buntovnik," where he described meeting with Croatian FKD cell members and claimed credit for vandalizing a WWII memorial); and [[Hendrik-Wahl Muller]] (South Africa, Terrorgram channel administrator).[^5][^6] + +### Attributed Violence + +A joint ProPublica and PBS FRONTLINE investigation published in 2025 identified 35 crimes linked to the Terrorgram network. DOJ prosecutors linked Humber specifically to seven attacks or plots "inspired or guided by" her leadership. + +The Bratislava attack of October 12, 2022: [[Juraj Krajčík]] (19) shot three people at Tepláreň, an LGBTQ+ bar, killing two and wounding one, then died by suicide. Krajčík had been radicalized through Terrorgram from age 16, directly mentored by Beňadik, and cited him by alias in his manifesto; he also cited the [[Payton Gendron|Buffalo supermarket shooter]] as his "final nudge."[^7] + +The Aracruz school shootings of November 25, 2022: Gabriel Castiglioni (16) attacked two schools in [[Aracruz, Brazil]], killing four and wounding eleven while wearing a swastika patch. Humber had communicated with a user planning a racially motivated school attack in Brazil one month prior. + +The Eskisehir mosque stabbing of August 12, 2024: [[Arda Küçükyetim]] (18) livestreamed himself stabbing five civilians outside a mosque in [[Eskisehir, Turkey]], possessing all three Terrorgram publications and a 16-page manifesto bearing Nazi symbols. + +Nashville energy substation drone plot, November 2024: Skyler Philippi attempted to attach C-4 to a drone and fly it into a Nashville-area electrical substation. + +Wisconsin murder-for-hire plot: An unnamed Wisconsin plot to murder two individuals as part of a broader scheme to assassinate a federal official was among seven attacks attributed to Humber's guidance. + +Waukesha parricidal attack, February 2025: Nikita Casap murdered his mother and stepfather to fund a planned Trump assassination plot, leaving a manifesto recommending Terrorgram publications including *The Hard Reset*.[^8] + +### Wisconsin Murder-for-Hire Plot: Full Identification + +The "Wisconsin murder-for-hire plot" referenced in Humber's indictment and in DOJ press releases was identified in the factual basis of Humber's August 2025 guilty plea as the February 2025 murders of Tatiana Casap and Donald Mayer by Nikita Casap ("N.C."), committed "in furtherance of his plot to assassinate a federal official" (Trump). The designation "federal official" in the plea's language reflects 18 U.S.C. § 1114 framing; Trump as president-elect and then president qualifies. The DOJ framing of these murders as one of seven attacks "inspired or guided by" Humber's leadership represents the full scope of prosecutorial attribution available in the public record as of May 2026.[^14] + +### Europol Coordination + +[[Europol]]'s [[European Counter Terrorism Centre]] (ECTC) supported investigations in both the Canadian (Althorpe/Nippak) and Danish (Meilhac) proceedings. Its May 1, 2026 press release on Meilhac's conviction described its supporting role across multiple national investigations and noted that "over two dozen Terrorgram cases around the world" had been identified as of that date.[^13] + +### AWD and O9A Connection + +The Terrorgram Collective's genealogical connection to Atomwaffen Division and the [[Order of Nine Angles]] runs through both personnel and doctrine. Althorpe had served as an AWD propagandist before joining Terrorgram's founding efforts. Nippak had produced AWD videos before creating Terrorgram content. Brandon Russell used multiple Terrorgram pseudonyms to distribute accelerationist content from prison. [[Taylor Parker-Dipeppe]], who briefly took over some FKD organizational functions following KAPO's 2020 intervention with FKD's teenage Commander, was also documented in the AWD-to-Terrorgram ecosystem. + +[[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] and [[Tempel ov Blood]]'s 2017 infiltration of AWD carried O9A ideology (treating murder as spiritual service, transgressive violence as initiatory progression) into the broader accelerationist space. [[Martinet Press]] O9A texts including *[[Iron Gates]]* circulated through Terrorgram channels reaching audiences with no prior direct AWD or O9A connection.[^9] + +### FKD/InJekt Division Bridge + +When [[Feuerkrieg Division]] reemerged on Telegram in May 2021, a co-leader established himself as a central figure in the Terrorgram community and as a core organizer of two coalition structures: the [[United Acceleration Front]] and the [[National Socialist Coalition]]. FKD partnered specifically with [[InJekt Division]], a Texas-based group founded by [[Coleman Thomas Blevins]] (arrested May 2021 for a Walmart mass-shooting threat, sentenced to 60 months). The [[Middlebury Institute CTEC]] and [[Tech Against Terrorism]] documented 21 distinct entities within this coalition network, all operating through Terrorgram channels, establishing the infrastructure link between the FKD era and the 764/CVLT era.[^10] + +[[Noah Licul]], one of the three individuals receiving SDGT designations alongside Terrorgram in January 2025, had been previously identified as active in FKD-linked chats in Croatia circa 2019-2020, representing a documented named individual who participated in both FKD-adjacent networks and subsequently Terrorgram. + +### Formal Designations + +United Kingdom: Proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2024, S.I. 2024/569, laid April 22, 2024, approved by Parliament April 24-25, 2024, in force April 26, 2024. Membership or support carries up to 14 years imprisonment. The UK was the first country in the world to proscribe Terrorgram. + +United States: SDGT designation of Terrorgram Collective and three individuals (Ferreira, Licul, Muller) under Executive Order 13224 on January 13, 2025. Published in the Federal Register as 90 FR 3987 on January 15, 2025. + +Australia: Counter-terrorism financing sanctions imposed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs under section 15 of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 in February 2025, making Terrorgram the first entirely online entity subjected to Australian CT financing sanctions. Formally listed as a terrorist organization under Division 102 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 via Criminal Code (Terrorist Organisation, Terrorgram) Regulations 2025, F2025L00762. Penalties up to 25 years imprisonment. + +Canada: Listed as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code via Regulations Amending the Regulations Establishing a List of Entities, SOR/2025-263, published in the Canada Gazette, Part 2, Vol. 159, No. 26, December 17, 2025. Order in Council P.C. 2025-914, December 8, 2025. Listed alongside [[764 Network|764]], [[Maniac Murder Cult]], and Islamic State-Mozambique.[^11] + +### Status After Arrests + +The Terrorgram Collective's inner organizational core was effectively dismantled by late 2025. Humber (30 years), Althorpe (20 years), Beňadik (6 years, from 2022), and Meilhac (6 years, from 2026) were imprisoned; Allison remained in federal custody awaiting trial; SDGT sanctions targeted three international figures; Lightner (51 months) and Casap (two consecutive life terms, March 2026) were also removed from the network. [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] described the network as "effectively defunct" as an organized structure. + +Violence attributed to Terrorgram-inspired individuals continued post-arrests. The network's content, once released, proved impossible to fully remove from the accelerationist ecosystem. + +[[FashFront]], a neo-Nazi web forum launched in mid-2025 at fashfront.st, emerged as the most developed successor infrastructure. It modeled itself on [[Iron March]]'s forum architecture while maintaining a companion [[Telegram]] channel and [[Odysee]] video distribution. With 941 registered users as of late 2025, including former Iron March members and at least one identified former AWD cell leader ([[Ryan Hatfield]], alias "Ryan Arthur"), FashFront represented the most significant consolidation of post-Terrorgram accelerationist organizing infrastructure as of May 2026. No law enforcement action against FashFront or its administrators has been publicly announced.[^12][^15] + +### Platform Migration After the September 2024 Indictment Unsealing + +The unsealing of the Terrorgram indictment on September 9, 2024, combined with the August 24, 2024 arrest of [[Pavel Durov|Telegram CEO Pavel Durov]] and Telegram's resulting announcement of law-enforcement cooperation, produced a documented migration wave. The [[Counter Extremism Project]] documented white supremacist Telegram channels immediately discussing the need for alternative platforms with better encryption. The [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] monitored a large number of neo-Nazi accelerationist groups migrating to a new decentralized, encrypted platform (which ISD declined to name); within 24 hours of ISD's September 25, 2024 monitoring period, users in those channels had posted calls for three political assassinations and multiple race-war declarations.[^16] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ProPublica / PBS FRONTLINE. "The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram: Inside a Global Online Hate Network." March 25, 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/rise-and-fall-terrorgram-inside-global-online-hate-network-frontline-telegram +[^2]: ARC Research. "Terrorgram's Propaganda: An Overview of Publications Designed to Incite Accelerationist Terrorism Attacks." https://www.accresearch.org/accreports/terrorgrams-propaganda-an-overview-of-publications-designed-to-incite-accelerationist-terrorism-attacks; GNET. "Analysing Terrorgram Publications." September 12, 2022. https://gnet-research.org/2022/09/12/analysing-terrorgram-publications-a-new-digital-zine/ +[^3]: ARC Research. "Terrorgram's First Saint: Analyzing Accelerationist Terrorism in Bratislava." 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6193e52959704a0c3b5b4b0c/t/6421ecf5721fc579c2799737/1679944949837/ARC_Terrorgrams+First+Saint_Bratislava.pdf; ADL. "Terrorgram Collective: International Terrorists Promoting Violence and White Supremacy." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/terrorgram-collective-international-terrorists-promoting-violence-and-white +[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged." September 9, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/leaders-transnational-terrorist-group-charged-soliciting-hate-crimes-soliciting-murder; DOJ OPA. "Leader of Transnational Terrorist Group Sentenced to 30 Years." December 19, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-transnational-terrorist-group-sentenced-30-years-prison-soliciting-hate-crimes-and; CourtListener. United States v. Humber, 2:24-cr-00257 (E.D. Cal.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69144957/united-states-v-humber/ +[^5]: U.S. Department of State. "Terrorist Designations of The Terrorgram Collective and Three Leaders." January 13, 2025. https://2021-2025.state.gov/office-of-the-spokesperson/releases/2025/01/terrorist-designations-of-the-terrorgram-collective-and-three-leaders/; Federal Register. 90 FR 3987, January 15, 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/15/2025-00756/ +[^6]: Posts from Underground. "'Don't let them find you': The U.S. Comes for Terrorgram." 2025. https://postsfromunderground.ghost.io/the-choice-is-yours-white-man-th/ +[^7]: RSIS. "Bratislava Shooting: The Making of Terrorgram's First Saint." https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/rsis/bratislava-shooting-the-making-of-terrorgrams-first-saint/; ProPublica. "Telegram, Terrorgram Collective, Bratislava murders, neo-Nazi online hate." https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate +[^8]: ProPublica / PBS FRONTLINE. "After Downfall, Terrorgram Still Inspires Violence." April 18, 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-assassionation-plot-nikita-casap-terrorgram-wisconsin-frontline; DOJ OPA. "Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Use a Weapon of Mass Destruction and Attempting to Destroy an Energy Facility in Nashville." September 9, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-attempting-use-weapon-mass-destruction-and-attempting-destroy-energy +[^9]: ARC Research. "The Three Phases of Terrorgram." https://www.accresearch.org/accreports/the-three-phases-of-terrorgram; Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ +[^10]: Middlebury Institute CTEC / Tech Against Terrorism. "Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online." 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/militant-accelerationism-coalitions-case-study; ADL. "Feuerkrieg Division." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/feuerkrieg-division-fkd +[^11]: UK Home Secretary. Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2024, S.I. 2024/569. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2024/9780348260656/pdfs/ukdsiem_9780348260656_en_001.pdf; Australia. Criminal Code (Terrorist Organisation, Terrorgram) Regulations 2025, F2025L00762. https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2025L00762/asmade; Government of Canada. "Government of Canada Lists Four New Terrorist Entities." December 10, 2025. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/12/government-of-canada-lists-four-new-terrorist-entities0.html; Canada Gazette, Part 2, Vol. 159, No. 26. SOR/2025-263. December 17, 2025. https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2025/2025-12-17/html/sor-dors263-eng.html +[^12]: ISD Global. "Dismantling Digital Terror: Lessons Learned from the Collapse of Terrorgram." https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/dismantling-digital-terror-lessons-learned-from-the-collapse-of-terrorgram/ +[^13]: Europol, European Counter Terrorism Centre. "'Terrorgram' network dealt another blow as member sentenced in Denmark." May 1, 2026. https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/terrorgram-network-dealt-another-blow-member-sentenced-in-denmark; The Local (Denmark). "Denmark jails man and revokes citizenship for promoting terror on social media." April 21, 2026. https://www.thelocal.dk/20260421/denmark-jails-man-and-revokes-citizenship-for-promoting-terror-on-social-media +[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leader of Transnational Terrorist Group Pleads Guilty." August 8, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-transnational-terrorist-group-pleads-guilty-soliciting-hate-crimes-soliciting-murder +[^15]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "New Neo-Nazi Web Forum 'Fash Front' Reinvigorating Violent Accelerationist Movement." 2025. https://globalextremism.org/post/fash-front/ +[^16]: ISD Global. "Neo-Nazi accelerationists seek new digital refuge amid looming Telegram crackdown." September 2024. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/neo-nazi-accelerationists-seek-new-digital-refuge-amid-looming-telegram-crackdown/; Counter Extremism Project. "Extremist Content Online: White Supremacist Telegram Channels Identify Need for Alternative Platform After State Department's Terrorgram Collective Designation." 2025. https://www.counterextremism.com/press/extremist-content-online-white-supremacist-telegram-channels-identify-need-alternative diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/The Base.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/The Base.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0462fe5b --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/The Base.md @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - TheBase + - NeoNazi + - Paramilitary + - Accelerationism + - FederalCase + - USA + - Russia + - TerroristDesignation +start: 2018 +location: "United States (founded); internationally active" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "The Base is a neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary network founded in 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro, designated a terrorist organization by Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU, whose members received over 100 combined years of prison sentences before the group rebuilt as an internationally operating cell network by 2025." +--- + +[[The Base]] was a paramilitary white supremacist network founded in 2018 by [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]], an American operating from [[Russia]] under the alias "Norman Spear." Nazzaro had previously worked in U.S. national security contracting before establishing The Base as a clandestine international organization explicitly modeled on jihadist cell structures, oriented toward eventually attacking U.S. society and precipitating a race war. The network used encrypted online platforms to vet potential members, required in-person meetings and weapons training as part of membership, and maintained chapters across multiple U.S. states and in several foreign countries. A wave of federal arrests beginning in January 2020 effectively dismantled The Base's operational capacity, though several members subsequently appeared in other accelerationist networks.[^1] + +### Structure and Recruitment + +Nazzaro designed The Base to function as a disciplined clandestine cell network rather than the more diffuse online-to-offline structure of [[Atomwaffen Division]], its rough contemporary. Prospective members underwent encrypted vetting interviews, in which Nazzaro or senior members assessed their ideological commitment and willingness to commit violence. Members who passed vetting were expected to attend in-person training events (called "hate camps" by the FBI and prosecutors) where they practiced firearms and survival techniques. + +The network maintained a presence in the [[Pacific Northwest]], [[Mid-Atlantic]] states, [[Georgia]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Michigan]], and internationally. Nazzaro identified himself as directing operations from Russia and explicitly framed the network's goal as preparing for an inevitable race war that Base members would help trigger and survive.[^2] + +### Federal Prosecutions: Complete Record + +The FBI's 2020 arrest campaign against The Base produced prosecutions in at least four federal districts, plus state-level charges in Georgia. Combined sentences across known cases exceed 100 years of imprisonment. + +District of Maryland (8:20-cr-00033-TDC): The core federal case involved [[Patrik Jordan Mathews]], a former [[Canadian Armed Forces]] Reserve combat engineer who had illegally entered the United States after fleeing Canadian authorities, and [[Brian Mark Lemley Jr.]], a U.S. Army veteran. Both were arrested January 16, 2020, four days before a planned [[Virginia Citizens Defense League]] (VCDL) Lobby Day gun rally in [[Richmond, Virginia]], where they had discussed carrying out mass violence. Prosecutors applied a terrorism enhancement at sentencing, the first such application in a white supremacist case in the District of Maryland. [[U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang]] sentenced both defendants to nine years in federal prison on October 28, 2021, followed by three years supervised release. Lemley's charges included illegally transporting a firearm; Mathews's charges included being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm.[^3] + +[[William Garfield Bilbrough IV]], 20, of Denton, Maryland, pleaded guilty in December 2020 to conspiring to transport and harbor Mathews after illegally entering the United States. Bilbrough had driven from Maryland to southern Michigan on August 30, 2019, to retrieve Mathews and transport him east. Judge Chuang sentenced Bilbrough to five years in federal prison.[^4] + +Georgia (Floyd County Superior Court): Three Base members were arrested January 17, 2020, on state conspiracy-to-murder charges. They had plotted to kill a [[Bartow County]] couple they believed were members of a local antifascist group. [[Luke Austin Lane]], 23, [[Jacob Kaderli]], 21, and [[Michael Helterbrand]], 27, all pleaded guilty in November 2021 before [[Floyd County]] Superior Court Judge [[John Niedrach]]. Lane received six years; Kaderli received thirteen years; Helterbrand received twenty years.[^5] + +[[New Jersey]] / Eastern District of Wisconsin: [[Richard Tobin]] of Paulsboro, New Jersey, organized "[[Operation Kristallnacht (The Base)|Operation Kristallnacht]]" through Base channels in September 2019, directing members to vandalize synagogues across the country. [[Yousef O. Barasneh]], 22, of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti and The Base's symbol on Beth Israel Sinai Congregation in Racine, Wisconsin, on September 21, 2019, pursuant to the coordinated campaign. Barasneh pleaded guilty August 12, 2020, to conspiring to violate citizens' rights under 18 U.S.C. § 241 in the Eastern District of Wisconsin (case 2:20-cr-00026) and received two months probation. Tobin pleaded guilty federally and was sentenced on November 16, 2021, to one year and one day in prison plus three years supervised release for conspiracy against rights.[^6] + +[[Ryan Burchfield]], a U.S. Marine Corps dropout and Base member, traveled to [[Ukraine]] and was deported in 2022 for alleged far-right terrorist activities there. He was not prosecuted in the United States.[^7] + +### Nazzaro and Russian Operations + +Nazzaro's identity as the founder remained disputed until 2020, when investigative reporting by The Guardian and other outlets confirmed he was Rinaldo Nazzaro, a U.S. citizen with a history in national security and intelligence contracting. His continued operation of a U.S.-targeted white supremacist network from [[St. Petersburg, Russia]] drew attention from counterterrorism researchers who noted the parallels to Russian-origin influence operations, though no direct link to Russian state direction has been publicly established. Nazzaro has not been charged in the United States as of 2026.[^2] + +### International Designations + +Canada designated The Base as a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code through Order in Council P.C. 2021-31, dated February 2, 2021, published in the Canada Gazette, Part 2, Volume 155, Number 2 (February 3, 2021). The designation was made alongside [[Atomwaffen Division]], the [[Proud Boys]], and the [[Russian Imperial Movement]].[^8] + +The [[United Kingdom]] proscribed The Base under The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2021 (Statutory Instrument 2021 No. 1318). The order was debated in the House of Lords on July 15, 2021. The Home Secretary's proscription statement described The Base as "concerned in terrorism" and noted its connections to [[Atomwaffen Division]] and its accelerationist ideology.[^9] + +[[Australia]] announced The Base's listing as a terrorist organization on November 24, 2021, through [[Home Affairs Minister]] [[Karen Andrews]]. It was the second far-right designation in Australia after [[Sonnenkrieg Division]] (August 2021).[^10] + +[[New Zealand]] designated The Base and the [[Proud Boys]] as terrorist organizations in June 2022.[^11] + +The [[European Union]] designated The Base on July 26, 2024, through Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2055 and Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/2056, under the EU's CP 931 terrorism sanctions framework. It was the first time the EU had ever designated a far-right group as a terrorist organization.[^12] + +The [[United States]] has not designated The Base under any federal terrorism statute. As a U.S.-founded domestic organization, The Base is ineligible for designation as a [[Foreign Terrorist Organization]] under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, which applies only to groups designated as foreign by the Secretary of State. The [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) has made no SDN listing for The Base or Rinaldo Nazzaro as of 2026.[^13] + +### Congressional Scrutiny + +The House Subcommittee on Military Personnel held a hearing titled "Alarming Incidents of White Supremacy in the Military -- How to Stop It?" on February 11, 2020 (116th Congress, CHRG-116hhrg42962), with Subcommittee Chairwoman [[Jackie Speier]] (D-CA) presiding. Speier described The Base as seeking "to use terrorism to start a race war and collapse the United States." Witnesses [[Heidi Beirich]] (SPLC) and [[Mark Pitcavage]] (ADL) testified about the group. Beirich noted that twenty percent of The Base's prospective recruits in recorded vetting interviews had described themselves as active-duty military or military veterans, and noted leadership was based in Russia.[^14] + +### 2024-2026 Resurgence and European Operations + +Following the collapse of The Base's U.S. operational capacity in 2020-2021, Nazzaro began rebuilding international cells. By November 2023, the group was assessed as operating in at least 18 countries. + +Netherlands: On August 20, 2024, Dutch police arrested three individuals (aged 16, 18, and 26, from Westerhoven, Veenendaal, and Hengelo) on charges of incitement to terrorism and membership in The Base. The [[Openbaar Ministerie]] (Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office) announced prosecution demands on March 3, 2025. The OM sought conditional prison sentences and community service for the adult defendants, and a conditional sentence plus community service for the juvenile.[^15] + +Italy: In September 2024, two individuals were arrested in Italy on charges including Base membership, incitement to violence, and extorting minors for [[child sexual abuse material]].[^16] + +Spain: On November 25, 2025, the [[Spanish National Police]] General Commissariat of Information, supported by [[Europol]]'s [[European Counter Terrorism Centre]], arrested three suspected Base members in [[Madrid]] and [[Valencia]] during a three-day operation involving five house searches. Firearms, bladed weapons, ammunition, military tactical gear, and neo-Nazi propaganda were seized. Investigators stated the Spanish cell was in direct contact with Nazzaro.[^17] + +### White Phoenix: Ukraine Cell + +The Base established a Ukrainian-operating cell called [[White Phoenix]] by at least early 2025. The cell posted videos in late March 2025 showing members spray-painting The Base symbol in Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv. In April 2025, Nazzaro announced via Telegram that cash payments were available for attacks on Ukrainian power plants, military and police vehicles, government buildings, and officials. It was the first time The Base had explicitly aligned itself with Russian military objectives. + +On July 10, 2025, White Phoenix claimed responsibility for the killing of [[SBU]] Colonel [[Ivan Voronych]] in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv (see [[2025 Kyiv SBU Assassination]]). Voronych was shot multiple times with a silenced pistol and died at the scene; he was the highest-ranking SBU officer killed in a targeted Kyiv assassination since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion. The SBU subsequently announced it had killed two alleged Russian [[FSB]]-directed operatives implicated in the murder. Whether White Phoenix directed or conducted the killing, or whether the claim was opportunistic, remained contested; counterterrorism sources told the Kyiv Independent the claim was credible, but the SBU did not confirm Base involvement.[^18] + +In February 2026, The Base's Ukrainian branch claimed a car bombing in Odesa targeting an officer described as assisting Russia. + +### FBI Investigation and 2024 Resurgence + +[[Christopher Tarrant]], a supervisory special agent in the FBI's Detroit domestic terrorism unit, confirmed in 2022 that an active FBI investigation into Nazzaro was underway. The [[Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center]] (MCAC), a DHS-affiliated fusion center, noted in an April 2025 advisory that the FBI's reallocation of resources away from domestic terrorism had contributed to The Base's operational resurgence in 2024-2025.[^19] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. Multiple press releases, January--December 2020, covering Georgia, Maryland, and New Jersey Base prosecutions. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-alleged-members-white-supremacist-group-charged-conspiracy-murder +[^2]: The Guardian. "Revealed: the true identity of the leader of an American neo-Nazi terror group." January 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/23/revealed-the-true-identity-of-the-leader-of-an-american-neo-nazi-terror-group +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Maryland, "Two Members of the Violent Extremist Group 'The Base' Each Sentenced to Nine Years in Federal Prison," October 28, 2021. Case 8:20-cr-00033-TDC (D. Md.). https://www.atf.gov/news/press-releases/two-members-violent-extremist-group-%E2%80%9C-base%E2%80%9D-each-sentenced-nine-years-federal-prison; CBC News, "U.S. judge sentences Manitoban ex-reservist Patrik Mathews to 9 years in prison," October 28, 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/patrik-mathews-sentencing-1.6226116 +[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Maryland, "Member of 'The Base' Pleads Guilty in Maryland." Case 8:20-cr-00033-TDC (D. Md.). https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/member-violent-extremist-group-base-pleads-guilty-maryland-federal-charges-transporting; CBC News, "Man accused of harbouring Manitoba reservist linked to white supremacist group gets 5 years," December 2020. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/william-bilbrough-the-base-sentencing-1.5833750 +[^5]: Vice News, "Neo-Nazis Who Plotted to Kill Antifa Activist Sentenced to Prison," 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/neo-nazis-who-plotted-to-kill-antifa-activist-sentenced-to-prison/; Northwest Georgia News, "Man pleads guilty to white supremacist group plot to kill Bartow County couple," November 2021. +[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of Wisconsin, "Oak Creek Man Who Vandalized Racine Synagogue Pleads Guilty," August 2020. Case 2:20-cr-00026 (E.D. Wis.). https://www.justice.gov/usao-edwi/pr/oak-creek-man-who-vandalized-racine-synagogue-pleads-guilty; Daily Voice, "NJ Neo-Nazi Gets Year, Day For Masterminding Nationwide 'Kristallnacht' Attack," November 2021. +[^7]: Wilson, Jason. "He Founded an American Neo-Nazi Terror Group. But Will Rinaldo Nazzaro Ever Face US Justice?" *VICE News*, October 2022. https://www.vice.com/en/article/american-terror-rinaldo-nazzaro/ +[^8]: Canada Gazette, Part 2, Vol. 155, No. 2, SOR/2021-8, February 3, 2021. https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2021/2021-02-03-x2/html/sor-dors8-eng.html +[^9]: UK Parliament, Hansard, House of Lords, "Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2021," July 15, 2021. SI 2021 No. 1318. https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-07-15/debates/69D5AEF9-060F-4315-B0E5-FE694C2EDF9B/TerrorismAct2000(ProscribedOrganisations)(Amendment)(No2)Order2021 +[^10]: Washington Post, "The Base, Hezbollah get terrorist designation in Australia," November 23, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-base-hezbollah-get-terrorist-designation-in-australia/2021/11/23/62c015dc-4ce2-11ec-a7b8-9ed28bf23929_story.html +[^11]: Al Jazeera, "New Zealand designates Proud Boys, The Base as 'terrorist' groups," June 30, 2022. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/30/new-zealand-designates-proud-boys-the-base-as-terrorist-groups +[^12]: Council of the EU, "Sanctions against terrorism: Council renews the EU Terrorist List and designates a new entity," July 26, 2024. Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2055, Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/2056. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/07/26/sanctions-against-terrorism-council-renews-the-eu-terrorist-list-and-designates-a-new-entity/ +[^13]: Foundation for Defense of Democracies, "Combat white supremacist violence using sanctions," May 30, 2022. https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2022/05/30/combat-white-supremacist-violence-sanctions/ +[^14]: U.S. Congress, House Subcommittee on Military Personnel, "Alarming Incidents of White Supremacy in the Military -- How to Stop It?" February 11, 2020. 116th Congress. CHRG-116hhrg42962. https://www.congress.gov/event/116th-congress/house-event/LC66984/text +[^15]: Openbaar Ministerie, "OM eist voorwaardelijke gevangenisstraffen en werkstraffen voor aanzetten terrorisme en deelname aan The Base," March 3, 2025. https://www.om.nl/actueel/nieuws/2025/03/03/om-eist-voorwaardelijke-gevangenisstraffen-en-werkstraffen-voor-aanzetten-terrorisme-en-deelname-aan-the-base +[^16]: Counter Extremism Project, "EU Arrests Members of Newly-Designated Terrorist Group The Base," 2024. https://www.counterextremism.com/blog/counterpoint-brief-eu-arrests-members-newly-designated-terrorist-group-base +[^17]: OCCRP, "Spain, With Europol Support, Disrupts Far-Right Terrorist Group 'The Base,'" November 2025. https://www.occrp.org/en/news/spain-with-europol-support-disrupts-far-right-terrorist-group-the-base +[^18]: Kyiv Independent, "US-founded extremist group claims killing of SBU Colonel in Kyiv," July 2025. https://kyivindependent.com/us-founded-extremist-group-claims-killing-of-sbu-colonel-in-kyiv/ +[^19]: Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center (MCAC), "US Neo-Nazi Group with Russia-Based Leader Calls for Targeted Ukraine Attacks," April 2025. https://mcac.maryland.gov/2025/04/us-neo-nazi-group-with-russia-based-leader-calls-for-targeted-ukraine-attacks/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/The Com.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/The Com.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1bfdcacc --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/The Com.md @@ -0,0 +1,84 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - NVE + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - ChildExploitation + - Accelerationism + - CybercriminalNetwork + - Online + - Transnational +start: 2019 +location: "Online (global)" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "The Com is a transnational online criminal ecosystem spanning three overlapping spheres (cybercrime, child exploitation, and offline violence), with 764 as its dominant sextortion subnetwork and hundreds of active FBI investigations across all U.S. field offices as of 2025." +--- + +[[The Com]] (short for "the Community," sometimes spelled "the Comm") is a transnational online criminal ecosystem rather than a single organization. The [[Canadian Anti-Hate Network]]'s 2025 report defines it as "an interconnected series of chat servers, websites, and people that come together to boast and collaborate on their illegal actions." Membership and victimization both trend toward younger ages - participants and their victims can be children - and The Com explicitly recruits through gaming platforms, social media, and encrypted messaging applications. The [[FBI]] classified [[764 Network|764]] as a "Tier One" terrorist threat with investigations in every U.S. field office and estimated more than 350 active investigations tied to 764 and related networks as of April 2026.[^1] + +### The Three Pillars + +Researcher [[Marc-Andre Argentino]] of the Accelerationist Research Consortium provides the most analytically precise framework, describing The Com as three overlapping criminal spheres: + +#### Cyber Com + +Encompasses hacking, ransomware, SIM swapping, doxxing, swatting, and cryptocurrency theft. [[Scattered Spider]] is the best-known Cyber Com group, with documented connections to the broader ecosystem. Law enforcement intelligence documents obtained by CyberScoop confirm The Com uses SIM-swapping and IP-grabbing tools borrowed from the Cyber Com sphere to locate, identify, and harm victims across all platforms. + +#### Sextortion Com + +The sphere in which [[764 Network|764]] and its splinter groups operate: sextortion, grooming, coercion of minors into producing [[CSAM]] (child sexual abuse material), and psychological manipulation designed to compel self-harm and real-world violence. 764 is the dominant network within this sphere but operates alongside dozens of variously named subgroups with overlapping membership. + +#### Offline Com + +Involves incitement to and glorification of real-world violence, ranging from vandalism and arson to livestreamed murder and mass casualty attacks. [[Maniac Murder Cult]] (MKY) is the most documented Offline Com organization. The boundary between Sextortion Com and Offline Com is porous: 764 cases frequently involve coercion to commit self-harm on camera, and an escalating share of documented cases involve operational planning for real-world attacks.[^2] + +### Named Subgroups + +The Com contains dozens of named subgroups, many of them short-lived rebrands or sub-servers operating under rotating aliases. The most documented include: + +[[764 Network]] and its direct offshoots: 764 was founded approximately 2020 by [[Bradley Chance Cadenhead|Bradley Cadenhead]] in Stephenville, Texas (its numeric name derives from that city's ZIP codes 76401/76402). After Cadenhead's arrest and sentencing to 80 years in 2023, the network fragmented into overlapping successor groups. [[764 Inferno]], led by [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]] from Thessaloniki, Greece and North Carolina respectively, continued coercing minors until both were arrested and charged in April 2025. + +[[Harm Nation]] was one of the primary 764 splinters emerging from the 2022 disruption of original 764 leadership. [[Kyle Spitze]] ("Criminal"), a Harm Nation member, pleaded guilty to production and possession of CSAM and distribution of animal crushing videos. + +[[Kaskar]] was founded by a figure called "Courtbox" and has overlapping membership with 764 from inception. It is characterized by extreme psychological manipulation targeting victims aged 9 to 17. + +[[Court]], [[Leak Society]], and [[H3ll]] emerged from the same 2022 fragmentation. Leak Society is documented by [[ISD Global|ISD]] as one of the largest subgroups within the network, primarily focused on distribution of leaked CSAM. + +[[8884]], whose numeric name references a member alias, was led by [[Alexis Aldair Chavez]] (19, San Antonio, Texas), who pleaded guilty in December 2025 to RICO charges and child exploitation counts. Chavez's specific crimes included coercing minors to self-harm live on video. + +Additional numerically named subgroups documented by the ADL include 6996, 7997, 676, Slit Town, 545, 404, NMK, 303, SR1, XVN, 2992, 555, and CVLTIST - most operating as sub-servers or short-lived rebrands within the larger ecosystem. + +[[CVLT]] was the most significant precursor group, founded approximately 2019 by [[Rohan Rane]] (later charged in the United States) and operating until approximately 2021. The even earlier [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the "Cult of Greg") operated January 2020 through January 2021, used nearly identical CSAM coercion methods, and overlapped in membership with the individuals who built 764. NCITE tracked 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes across 764, CVLT, and Greggy's Cult by December 2025. + +[[No Lives Matter]] (NLM) is a particularly violent splinter documented by Wired as operating within and adjacent to The Com. It was founded approximately 2023 by [[Justin B.]] (known by the handle "CXRPSE"), a Dutch national from Eindhoven, Netherlands. NLM has been linked to violent incidents in Europe and South America, including stabbing sprees in Sweden. Justin B. was arrested in the Netherlands in July 2025 on terrorism charges; his first Dutch court hearing was October 28, 2025. + +[[Maniac Murder Cult]] (MKY) bridges The Com and the broader neo-Nazi accelerationist ecosystem. It was founded in Dnipro, Ukraine, approximately 2017-2018, and is ideologically rooted in neo-Nazi accelerationism and theistic Satanism rather than pure nihilism. It is treated in greater detail in its own entry.[^3] + +### Platforms and Recruitment + +Primary recruitment and operation platforms documented across law enforcement and research sources include [[Discord]] (primary recruitment, especially of younger targets via gaming servers), [[Telegram]] (propaganda distribution, recruitment, and operational communication for the broader Com), [[Roblox]] and [[Minecraft]] (reaching younger potential victims), [[Instagram]] and [[Facebook]] (initial contact with targets), [[Bluesky]] (emerging activity as of ADL's 2025 reporting), and [[Wire]] and [[Matrix]] (used specifically by MKY for private encrypted communications distinct from its recruitment channels). + +The Com's Cyber Com sphere provides the broader network with cybercriminal tradecraft: SIM swapping to obtain phone access, IP grabbing to identify victim locations, and doxxing and swatting as harassment and intimidation tools. FBI and law enforcement intelligence documents confirm this crossover is being investigated as a unified threat rather than separate phenomena.[^4] + +### Law Enforcement Response and Designations + +The [[FBI]] classified 764 as a Tier One/Category 1 terrorist threat, its highest threat designation, with investigations in all field offices. Over 250 active investigations were reported in May 2025, over 300 in December 2025, and over 350 by April 2026. + +The most significant U.S. prosecutions: +- [[Baron Cain Martin|Baron Martin]] (Tucson, Arizona): Indicted April 2026 on 29 counts including the first-ever federal terrorism charge under the material support statute against a 764 member. Trial scheduled June 2026. +- [[Alexis Aldair Chavez]]: RICO and child exploitation guilty plea, December 2025. +- [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]]: Charged April 2025 for leading 764 Inferno; both face life in prison. +- [[Michail Chkhikvishvili]] (MKY leader): Sentenced 15 years federal prison, May 2026. + +Canada designated 764, MKY, and [[Terrorgram Collective]] as terrorist entities on December 10, 2025. The UK designated MKY as a proscribed terrorist organization on July 2, 2025. The [[RCMP]] arrested [[Jeffrey Roussel]] of Quebec City in April 2026 on terrorism charges for promoting 764 ideology and recruiting teenagers via Telegram - among the first prosecutions under Canada's designation. + +The Netherlands arrested the No Lives Matter founder on terrorism charges in July 2025. Romania convicted the MKY-affiliated "Tobbz" to 14 years in August 2023. Sweden recorded at least six attacks recorded and promoted on Telegram by a 14-year-old known as "Slain764" before that individual's arrest in September 2024.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Canadian Anti-Hate Network. "Com/764: Transnational Abuse, Extortion, and Cybercrime Networks Targeting Youth." August 5, 2025. https://www.antihate.ca/com_764_transnational_abuse_networks_report +[^2]: Argentino, Marc-Andre. "The Pillars of the Com Network." https://www.maargentino.com/the-pillars-of-the-com-network/; Argentino. "Understanding the Relationship Between 764 And The Com." https://www.maargentino.com/understanding-the-relationship-between-764-and-the-com-network/ +[^3]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "The 764 Network: A Global Threat for Child Abuse and Radicalization." https://globalextremism.org/post/764-network/; ADL. "764." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764; ISD. "Networks of Harm: A Victim-Centric Resource on the 764 Network." https://www.isdglobal.org/publication/networks-of-harm-a-victim-centric-information-resource-on-the-764-sextortion-network-2/ +[^4]: CyberScoop. "Feds are probing 764, The Com's use of cybercriminal tactics." https://cyberscoop.com/the-com-764-cybercrime-violent-crime-fbi-intellignce-report/ +[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise; Government of Canada. "Government of Canada Lists Four New Terrorist Entities." December 10, 2025. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/12/government-of-canada-lists-four-new-terrorist-entities0.html diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Vorherrschaft Division.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Vorherrschaft Division.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0edd1b65 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Vorherrschaft Division.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - Telegram + - UnitedStates +start: 2019 +location: "Online (United States-based)" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Vorherrschaft Division is a U.S.-based neo-Nazi accelerationist Telegram organization documented as an organizational ally of Feuerkrieg Division and InJekt Division within the United Acceleration Front coalition, whose most violent documented member, Timothy Wilson, was killed by the FBI during an arrest attempt in March 2020." +--- + +Vorherrschaft Division (VSD) is a U.S.-based neo-Nazi accelerationist organization that operates primarily through [[Telegram]], named from the German word for "domination" (as in global racial domination). The group peaked at approximately 200 subscribers on Telegram and is documented as an organizational ally of [[Feuerkrieg Division]] and [[InJekt Division]] within the [[United Acceleration Front]] coalition network. The most serious publicly documented violence connected to a Vorherrschaft Division participant was the 2020 hospital bombing plot by [[Timothy Wilson]], who was killed by the [[FBI]] during an attempted arrest in Belton, Missouri in March 2020.[^1] + +### Ideology and Structure + +VSD operated in the [[Siege Culture]] tradition, endorsing leaderless resistance and the glorification of mass violence as a catalyst for racial civilizational collapse. The [[ADL]] glossary characterizes it as a white supremacist group that has "embraced Siege culture." It operated without a publicly identified formal leadership structure. Its Telegram channel served as a distribution node for accelerationist propaganda materials. A public alliance between VSD and Feuerkrieg Division was announced on Telegram before FKD's 2020 dissolution; the two groups circulated joint propaganda materials. When FKD re-emerged in May 2021, it continued working with VSD and InJekt Division in building the [[United Acceleration Front]].[^2] + +The [[Tracking Terrorism]] (TRAC) interconnectivity analysis documented VSD alongside FKD, InJekt Division, and [[Totenwaffen]] as the four primary nodes in this coalition network, all operating through Terrorgram-adjacent Telegram channels.[^2] + +### Timothy Wilson (2020) + +[[Timothy Wilson]], 36, of Belton, Missouri, was active in VSD's public Telegram channel under the handle "Werwolfe 84" and was simultaneously active in [[National Socialist Movement]] (NSM) channels. Wilson was the subject of a months-long FBI terrorism investigation that revealed him to be, in the FBI's characterization, "a potentially violent extremist, motivated by racial, religious, and anti-government animus." In his Telegram posts, Wilson expressed admiration for [[The Order]], the 1983-1984 neo-Nazi criminal organization. + +During the early COVID-19 pandemic, Wilson settled on bombing a hospital in the Belton area, writing on Telegram that he believed the pandemic was being used by the government as "an excuse to destroy our people." FBI agents attempted to arrest Wilson at his residence on March 24, 2020. Wilson opened fire on agents, who returned fire; Wilson was killed at the scene. No bomb device was recovered, but the investigation established operational planning. Because Wilson died during the arrest attempt, no criminal prosecution resulted, and the full scope of his VSD activity was not publicly documented in any court record.[^3] + +### Status + +The VSD Telegram channel operated at least through 2022. No VSD-specific proscription, formal terrorist designation, or criminal prosecution targeting the organization as an entity has been identified in open sources as of May 2026. Its small subscriber base and the death of its most documented violent member limited its operational significance relative to FKD and InJekt Division, but its documented coalition role in the UAF structure makes it a confirmed node in the AWD-to-Terrorgram organizational pipeline.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Tracking Terrorism (TRAC). Vorherrschaft Division profile. https://trackingterrorism.org/group/vorherrschaft-division-accelerationist/; ADL. "Vorherrschaft Division." Glossary of Extremism and Hate. https://extremismterms.adl.org/glossary/vorherrschaft-division +[^2]: Tracking Terrorism (TRAC). "Interconnectivity Between Accelerationist Networks: Totenwaffen, Vorherrschaft Division, The InJekt Division, and Feuerkrieg Division." https://trackingterrorism.org/chatter/interconnectivity-between-accelerationist-networks-totenwaffen-vorherrschaft-division-the-injekt-division-and-feuerkrieg-division/; Middlebury Institute CTEC / Tech Against Terrorism. "Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online." June 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/militant-accelerationism-coalitions-case-study +[^3]: Nick R. Martin / The Informant. "Heartland Terror." https://www.informant.news/heartland-terror/; TPM. "Alleged Hospital Bombing Plotter Who Died During Arrest Attempt Was Target of FBI Sting." March 2020. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/alleged-hospital-bombing-plotter-who-died-during-arrest-attempt-was-target-of-fbi-sting diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/WatchPeopleDie.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/WatchPeopleDie.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d53faf54 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/WatchPeopleDie.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Platform + - NVE + - TrueCrimeCommunity + - RadicalizationPathway + - Online + - GoreContent +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "WatchPeopleDie is a fringe gore website documented by the ADL as a gateway to white supremacist radicalization and identified as the entry point in the documented radicalization pathways of both Natalie Rupnow and Solomon Henderson." +--- + +[[WatchPeopleDie]] is a fringe website hosting user-uploaded footage of violent deaths, including homicides, accidents, executions, and war atrocities. The [[ADL]] documented it in a 2024-2025 investigation as functioning as a gateway platform: users drawn in by gore content are progressively exposed to racist commentary, white supremacist recruitment material, and links to more explicitly extremist platforms and communities. The site operates outside mainstream platform moderation frameworks and has migrated across hosting services following removal actions.[^1] + +### Gateway Function + +The ADL's investigation "From Gore to Hate: How WatchPeopleDie Serves as a Gateway to Extremism" documented the platform's radicalization pipeline in detail. Content posted alongside violent footage routinely includes racist commentary framing the deaths in terms of white supremacist ideology, particularly footage of violence involving non-white perpetrators or victims. The site's community infrastructure, including comments and user profiles, provides entry points to more organized extremist spaces. + +The [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] (ISD) identified WatchPeopleDie as the entry point in [[Natalie Rupnow]]'s documented radicalization pathway, which ran from the platform through 764-affiliated and [[Terrorgram Collective]]-adjacent content to Rupnow's December 16, 2024 attack at [[Abundant Life Christian School]] in [[Madison, Wisconsin]].[^2] + +### Rupnow and Henderson Connection + +[[Natalie Rupnow]] created a WatchPeopleDie account in June 2023. [[Solomon Henderson]], the perpetrator of the January 22, 2025 [[2025 Antioch High School Shooting|Antioch High School shooting]] in Nashville, Tennessee, created his own account in the same month. Both had followed each other on [[X (Twitter)|X]]. + +PBS Wisconsin documented that the two individuals had crossed paths in WatchPeopleDie and X as the earliest identifiable intersection of their online activity, approximately 18 months before their respective attacks. Nashville Metropolitan Police Department's January 2026 investigation into Henderson found no evidence of direct coordination between the two. The shared platform registration and mutual follow reflect convergent radicalization through the same online ecosystem rather than a coordinated relationship.[^3] + +The June 2023 WatchPeopleDie registration date places both individuals in the same stage of early radicalization simultaneously, within a platform that ISD treats as a first-step entry point rather than a terminal extremist community. Both moved from WatchPeopleDie into more explicitly ideological online spaces over the following months before their respective attacks. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ADL. "From Gore to Hate: How WatchPeopleDie Serves as a Gateway to Extremism." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/gore-hate-how-watchpeopledie-serves-gateway-extremism +[^2]: ISD. "Terror without ideology: The rise of nihilistic violence." https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/terror-without-ideology-the-rise-of-nihilistic-violence-an-isd-investigation/ +[^3]: PBS Wisconsin. "Madison and Nashville school shooters appear to have crossed paths in online extremist communities." https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/madison-and-nashville-school-shooters-appear-to-have-crossed-paths-in-online-extremist-communities/; Raw Story. "Horrifying website revealed as gateway that linked school shooters." https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/watchpeopledie-teen-school-shooters-both-used-gateway-gore-site-new-report-warns/ diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/White Phoenix.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/White Phoenix.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d5c05fcc --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/White Phoenix.md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - TheBase + - NeoNazi + - Ukraine + - Russia + - Accelerationism + - TerrorismCell +summary: "White Phoenix is the Ukrainian operational cell of The Base neo-Nazi network that claimed responsibility for the killing of SBU Colonel Ivan Voronych in Kyiv in July 2025 and has conducted graffiti operations and offered cash bounties for attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure aligned with Russian military objectives." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2025 +location: "Ukraine" +--- + +White Phoenix is the designated Ukrainian operational cell of [[The Base]], the neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary network founded and directed by [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] from [[St. Petersburg, Russia]]. The cell became publicly active in early 2025 and conducted operations that counterterrorism analysts described as the first instance of The Base openly aligning its activities with Russian geopolitical and military objectives.[^1] + +### Emergence and Graffiti Operations + +In late March 2025, videos surfaced on Base-affiliated Telegram channels showing individuals spray-painting The Base's symbol and insignia in multiple Ukrainian cities, including [[Kyiv]], [[Odesa]], [[Mykolaiv]], and [[Kharkiv]]. The videos were accompanied by material attributing the activity to members within Ukraine operating under the White Phoenix name. [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] (ISD) researcher [[Steven Rai]] noted that The Base's use of bot-amplified accounts on [[VKontakte]] to publicize the activities raised questions about state support.[^2] + +### Bounty Offers and Ukraine Targeting + +In April and June 2025, Nazzaro posted via Telegram offers of cash payments to volunteers for attacks on Ukrainian power stations, military and police vehicles, government buildings, and political officials in Kyiv and other cities. The materials explicitly proposed the creation of a "white nationalist enclave" in the [[Zakarpattia]] region of western Ukraine. [[Colin Clarke]], Director of Research at the [[Soufan Center]], described the targeting package as one that "could very well be a Russian intelligence operation" given Nazzaro's Russian sanctuary, citizenship, and the group's shift to Russian-owned digital platforms.[^3] + +### Voronych Killing + +On July 10, 2025, White Phoenix claimed responsibility for the killing of [[Security Service of Ukraine]] (SBU) Colonel [[Ivan Voronych]] in the [[Holosiivskyi]] district of Kyiv. An unidentified assailant approached Voronych and fired five aimed shots from a silenced pistol; Voronych sustained multiple penetrating gunshot wounds and died at the scene. He was the highest-ranking SBU officer killed in a targeted assassination in Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. + +White Phoenix's Telegram claim described the killing as a "carefully planned" operation carried out by its "activists" as a "warning to the regime" of President [[Volodymyr Zelensky]]. + +The SBU subsequently announced that it had killed two Russian operatives, a man and a woman, whom it said had been directed by Russia's [[Federal Security Service]] (FSB) to surveil Voronych and had been led to a pre-positioned weapons cache containing the silenced firearm. The SBU attributed the killing to Russian state direction. Whether White Phoenix served as a FSB cutout, conducted the killing independently, or made a false attribution claim has not been confirmed. Counterterrorism sources quoted by the [[Kyiv Independent]] described the White Phoenix claim as credible; the SBU did not publicly confirm The Base's involvement.[^4] + +### Odesa Car Bombing Claim + +In February 2026, The Base's Ukrainian branch claimed responsibility for a car bombing in Odesa, stating the target was a border service officer described by the cell as assisting Russia. No independent confirmation of the claim was available as of the research date.[^5] + +### Assessment + +The White Phoenix cell represents a qualitative shift in The Base's operations: from preparing members in the United States for a future race war to conducting or claiming actual targeted killings in a live conflict zone on behalf of objectives that align with Russian military strategy. The combination of Russian operational direction of the Voronych killing (per SBU) and White Phoenix's claim of credit for the same killing is consistent with either a Russian intelligence cutout arrangement or a coincident opportunistic claim. Neither the U.S. government nor any allied government has publicly attributed White Phoenix's activities to Russian state direction as of 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Prism News, "American Neo-Nazi Leader in Russia Linked to Resurgent Terror Network Across Europe," 2025. https://www.prismnews.com/news/american-neo-nazi-leader-in-russia-linked-to-resurgent + +[^2]: Euromaidanpress, "US neo-Nazi leader based in Russia offers payment for attacks on Ukrainian officials," June 4, 2025. https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/04/06/us-neo-nazi-leader-based-in-russia-offers-payment-for-attacks-on-ukrainian-officials/ + +[^3]: Euromaidanpress, "US neo-Nazi leader based in Russia offers payment for attacks on Ukrainian officials," June 4, 2025. Quoting Colin Clarke, Soufan Center. https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/04/06/us-neo-nazi-leader-based-in-russia-offers-payment-for-attacks-on-ukrainian-officials/ + +[^4]: Kyiv Independent, "US-founded extremist group claims killing of SBU Colonel in Kyiv," July 2025. https://kyivindependent.com/us-founded-extremist-group-claims-killing-of-sbu-colonel-in-kyiv/; CBS News, "Ukrainian spy agency officer shot dead with silenced pistol in Kyiv." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukrainian-spy-agency-officer-killed-kyiv-reports-ivan-voronych/; CNN, "Ukraine says it killed Russian agents suspected of assassinating intelligence officer," July 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/13/europe/ukraine-russia-sbu-assassination-intl + +[^5]: Prism News, "American Neo-Nazi Leader in Russia Linked to Resurgent Terror Network Across Europe," 2025. https://www.prismnews.com/news/american-neo-nazi-leader-in-russia-linked-to-resurgent diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/White Prison Newsletter.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/White Prison Newsletter.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5e89f1f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/White Prison Newsletter.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- +category: "Organizations" +tags: + - Organization + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - USA +summary: "The White Prison Newsletter is a neo-Nazi accelerationist publication co-organized by Brandon Russell from federal prison, targeting incarcerated persons and endorsed by Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Gregory Bowers." +start: ~2019 +location: "United States" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +--- + +The White Prison Newsletter is a neo-Nazi accelerationist publication organized by [[Brandon Russell]] and other former [[Atomwaffen Division]] (AWD) members during Russell's incarceration following his 2018 federal explosives conviction. The newsletter was distributed to incarcerated individuals and promoted AWD-style [[Siege Culture|Siege]] ideology and accelerationism among prison populations. + +The newsletter's [[Telegram]] channel listed Russell as a key contributor. [[Sarah Beth Clendaniel]] is also reported to have contributed at least one opinion piece to the publication. [[Robert Gregory Bowers]], convicted of murdering 11 people at the [[Tree of Life Synagogue]] in [[Pittsburgh]] on October 27, 2018, publicly endorsed the newsletter. + +The newsletter represents one documented example of AWD's capacity to sustain ideological production and recruitment during periods when its leadership was incarcerated. Russell and Clendaniel's co-authorship of content for the same publication during their separate incarcerations was one dimension of the relationship they developed through prison correspondence beginning in approximately 2018, a relationship that later produced the [[2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy]]. + +No criminal charges related specifically to the newsletter's production or distribution had been filed as of mid-2026.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Vice. "Inside the Neo-Nazi Prison Magazine Radicalizing Americans in Their Cells." https://www.vice.com/en/article/white-power-newsletter-neo-nazi-accelerationism-behind-bars/; Counter Extremism Project. "Atomwaffen Division / National Socialist Order / National Socialist Resistance Front." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/atomwaffen-division-national-socialist-order diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2015 Charleston Church Shooting.md b/40 - EVENTS/2015 Charleston Church Shooting.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..54b0332a --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2015 Charleston Church Shooting.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - NeoNazi + - WhiteNationalism + - Accelerationism + - SaintsCulture + - GreatReplacementTheory + - AntiBlack + - SouthCarolina + - USA + - MassShooter +date: 2015-06-17 +location: "Charleston, South Carolina" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Dylann Roof killed nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 17, 2015, received federal and state death sentences, and became the founding saint reference explicitly cited by Brenton Tarrant in his Christchurch manifesto." +--- + +On June 17, 2015, [[Dylann Roof]] (21) entered [[Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]] and joined the mid-week Bible study group, sitting with them for approximately an hour before opening fire. He killed nine people, all Black parishioners. He allowed some individuals to survive explicitly so they could report what had happened. He fled and was arrested the following morning in [[Shelby, North Carolina]], after a passing motorist recognized him from surveillance footage and called police. Roof stated that his goal was to start a race war. He was subsequently convicted on 33 federal counts and nine state murder counts, and was sentenced to death in both proceedings. [[Brenton Tarrant]]'s 2019 Christchurch manifesto explicitly cited Roof as a proof of concept, making the Charleston attack the opening event in the documented accelerationist succession extending through Tarrant to [[Payton Gendron]], [[Juraj Krajčík]], [[Nikita Casap]], and [[Cain Clark]].[^1] + +### The Attack + +Roof arrived at Emanuel AME Church, one of the oldest and most historically prominent Black churches in the American South, during Wednesday evening Bible study. He sat with the group for roughly an hour. He then opened fire on the worshippers. + +The nine people killed were the church's senior pastor and South Carolina state senator [[Clementa C. Pinckney]], [[Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd]], [[Susie Jackson]], [[Ethel Lee Lance]], [[Depayne Middleton Doctor]], [[Tywanza Sanders]], [[Daniel Simmons]], [[Sharonda Coleman-Singleton]], and [[Myra Thompson]]. + +After the attack Roof drove out of state. A motorist in Shelby, North Carolina recognized him from surveillance footage broadcast in the immediate aftermath and called police. He was arrested the following morning without resistance.[^1] + +### Radicalization + +Roof described his radicalization in a manifesto he posted online before the attack. He stated he had been drawn into white nationalist ideology by reading [[Council of Conservative Citizens]] material online, particularly distorted and fabricated statistics about interracial crime. He wrote that he had decided that someone needed to take action, that no existing organized movement would, and that therefore he would do so alone. + +His manifesto cited white South Africa as an aspirational model and framed the attack explicitly as a provocation: a high-profile act of racial violence intended to trigger a white nationalist response and accelerate the collapse of multiracial American society. Roof had no prior criminal record and no documented connection to any organized white nationalist group before the attack.[^2] + +### Legal Outcomes + +A federal jury convicted Roof on all 33 counts, including hate crimes resulting in death, obstruction of religion resulting in death, and use of a firearm to commit a violent crime. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel sentenced him to death in January 2017. Roof waived counsel for part of the federal proceedings and continued to reject the legitimacy of the charges. + +South Carolina state court convicted Roof on nine counts of murder and sentenced him to death on each count. + +### Accelerationist Succession + +Tarrant's March 2019 Christchurch manifesto argued that Roof's attack had demonstrated that a single individual could shift political conditions through targeted racial violence. Tarrant cited Roof as a precedent and inspiration, retroactively incorporating the Charleston attack into the "saint" framework. The Christchurch attack in turn inspired Gendron (Buffalo, 2022), whose attack was named by Krajčík as his "final nudge" (Bratislava, 2022). The chain continues through Casap (Wisconsin, 2025) and Clark (San Diego, 2026), all of whom cited Tarrant's manifesto as foundational.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Jury Convicts Dylann Roof on All Counts in the Federal Hate Crimes Trial for the Emanuel AME Church Shooting." https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/jury-convicts-dylann-roof-all-counts-federal-hate-crimes-trial-emanuel-ame-church-shooting +[^2]: Mother Jones. "Dylann Roof's Manifesto." December 2015. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/dylann-roof-manifesto/ +[^3]: ICCT. "Christchurch Attacks and the Role of Online Propaganda." https://icct.nl/publication/christchurch-attacks-and-the-role-of-online-propaganda/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2017 Gothenburg Neo-Nazi Bombings.md b/40 - EVENTS/2017 Gothenburg Neo-Nazi Bombings.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..79f32a15 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2017 Gothenburg Neo-Nazi Bombings.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - RussianImperialMovement + - NeoNazi + - Paramilitary + - Terrorism + - Sweden + - Partizan + - NordicResistanceMovement +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2017-01-01 +location: "Gothenburg, Sweden" +summary: "A series of neo-Nazi bombings in Gothenburg, Sweden in January 2017, carried out by two Nordic Resistance Movement members who had received explosives training at the Russian Imperial Movement's Partizan camp in St. Petersburg, providing the factual basis for the U.S. State Department's 2020 white supremacist terrorist designation of RIM." +--- + +Three bombings in Gothenburg, Sweden in January and February 2017 were carried out by members of the [[Nordic Resistance Movement]] who had received paramilitary and explosives training at the [[Russian Imperial Movement]]'s [[Partizan]] training camp in [[St. Petersburg]], [[Russia]], in August 2016. The attacks targeted a refugee shelter, an asylum seeker facility, and a left-wing cafe. Swedish courts convicted three defendants in July 2017. The case subsequently became the primary factual predicate for the [[U.S. Department of State]]'s April 7, 2020, designation of the Russian Imperial Movement as a [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] entity, the first such designation of a white supremacist organization in U.S. history.[^1] + +### Partizan Training (August 2016) + +In August 2016, [[Viktor Melin]] (approximately 23 years old) and [[Anton Thulin]] (approximately 20 years old), both members of the Nordic Resistance Movement's Gothenburg cell, traveled to St. Petersburg and attended the Partizan paramilitary training course run by RIM's [[Imperial Legion]] commander [[Denis Gariev]]. The training curriculum covered firearms handling, explosives manufacture and use, close-quarters combat, medical skills, and small-unit tactics. Former Russian military personnel served as instructors. + +Swedish prosecutor [[Mats Ljungqvist]] stated at trial: "Attending this paramilitary camp in St. Petersburg was a key step in Melin and Thulin's radicalization. We also believe it may be the place where they learned to manufacture the bombs that they used in Gothenburg."[^2] + +### Attacks + +On January 17, 2017, a car bomb detonated at a refugee shelter in Torslanda, a district of Gothenburg. A second bombing targeted a shelter for asylum seekers later in January. A third device was detonated outside a cafe frequented by left-wing activists. The bombings caused property damage; there were no fatalities. + +DNA from fragments recovered at the Torslanda bombing matched Viktor Melin. The investigation identified Melin, Thulin, and a third individual, [[Jimmy Jonasson]] (approximately 50 years old), as responsible for the attacks.[^2] + +### Conviction + +On July 7, 2017, the Gothenburg District Court convicted all three defendants. Sentences ranged from 18 months (Thulin) to eight and a half years (Melin). Jonasson received an intermediate sentence. The court accepted the prosecution's argument that the Partizan training was causally connected to the bombing capability: the specific bomb-making technique matched what RIM's course taught.[^2] + +### State Department SDGT Designation (April 2020) + +When the State Department designated RIM on April 7, 2020, Counterterrorism Coordinator [[Nathan Sales]] explicitly cited the Gothenburg case as the primary factual basis. The SDGT designation under [[Executive Order 13224]] required that RIM had "provided training for acts of terrorism." The Swedish criminal conviction, with its detailed judicial findings linking the Partizan curriculum to the bombs used, supplied the evidentiary record for the designation.[^1] + +The designation noted that RIM's [[Partizan]] program was systematically targeting foreign neo-Nazi organizations for recruitment into its training pipeline, and that Gothenburg was not an isolated incident but an instance of the program's intended function. The State Department also noted that graduates of Partizan training from multiple European countries had subsequently joined Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, demonstrating an additional recruitment pipeline feeding into Russian proxy warfare.[^1] + +### AWD Training at the Same Facility + +The same Partizan facility that trained Melin and Thulin in 2016 provided training to [[Atomwaffen Division]] leaders [[Kaleb Cole]] and [[Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh]] in 2018, two years after the Swedish cohort. By the time Cole and Bruce-Umbaugh attended, the RIM designation for the Swedish bombings had not yet occurred (that came in April 2020), but U.S. investigators subsequently used the RIM-AWD training connection as evidence of AWD's transnational organizational structure.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of State. "The U.S. Department of State's Designation of the Russian Imperial Movement and its Leaders as Global Terrorists." April 7, 2020. https://2017-2021.state.gov/the-u-s-department-of-states-designation-of-the-russian-imperial-movement-and-its-leaders-as-global-terrorists/index.html; State Dept. briefing with Amb. Nathan Sales. April 7, 2020. https://ge.usembassy.gov/briefing-with-coordinator-for-counterterrorism-amb-sales-on-the-u-s-designation-of-russian-imperial-movement-and-its-leaders-as-global-terrorists/ +[^2]: BuzzFeed News (Lester Feder). "These Swedish Nazis Trained In Russia Before Bombing A Center For Asylum Seekers." https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lesterfeder/these-swedish-nazis-trained-in-russia; The Daily Beast. "Russian Extremists Are Training Right-Wing Terrorists From Western Europe." https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-extremists-are-training-right-wing-terrorists-from-western-europe/ +[^3]: Malcontent News. "Washington's Defunct Atomwaffen Division had Deep Ties to the Terrorist Org, Russia Imperialist Movement." July 4, 2022. https://malcontentment.com/washingtons-defunct-atomwaffen-division-had-deep-ties-to-the-terrorist-org-russia-imperialist-movement/; Cipher Brief. "Examining Atomwaffen Division's Transnational Linkages." https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/examining-atomwaffen-divisions-transnational-linkages diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2017 Tampa Atomwaffen Murders.md b/40 - EVENTS/2017 Tampa Atomwaffen Murders.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cc9e1ace --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2017 Tampa Atomwaffen Murders.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Murder + - Florida + - USA +date: 2017-05-19 +location: "Tampa, Florida" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "On May 19, 2017, AWD member Devon Arthurs killed two fellow members at a shared Tampa apartment, triggering the first national exposure of Atomwaffen Division and leading directly to founder Brandon Russell's first federal arrest." +--- + +On May 19, 2017, [[Devon Arthurs]] (18) killed his two [[Atomwaffen Division]] roommates [[Jeremy Himmelman]] (22) and [[Andrew Oneschuk]] (18) inside their shared [[Tampa]], [[Florida]] apartment, while AWD founder [[Brandon Russell]] was away at a [[Florida National Guard]] training exercise. After the killings, Arthurs drove to a nearby smoke shop and held customers at gunpoint before surrendering to police after a standoff of approximately an hour. The subsequent search of the apartment by Tampa police and the FBI revealed explosive materials belonging to Russell, producing his arrest and providing investigators with their first comprehensive inside look at AWD's membership and structure. The Tampa murders were the first major public exposure of AWD as an operational organization and triggered the wave of federal investigative attention that would disrupt it over the following years.[^1] + +### Background and the Apartment + +Russell had founded AWD on the [[Iron March]] forum in October 2015 and operated it from Tampa while enrolled at the [[University of South Florida]] and serving in the National Guard. The apartment he shared with Arthurs, Himmelman, and Oneschuk functioned as an AWD operational hub. Arthurs had been a committed AWD member before converting to Islam at some point in 2016 or early 2017. His conversion generated escalating conflict with Himmelman and Oneschuk, who remained committed neo-Nazis. + +Arthurs later told investigators that Himmelman and Oneschuk had desecrated a Quran he kept in the apartment, and that he had also concluded they posed a threat to his safety because they could expose his prior AWD membership. He framed the killings as a preemptive response to both provocations.[^1] + +### The Killings and Hostage Standoff + +On the afternoon of May 19, 2017, while Russell was at National Guard training, Arthurs shot and killed Himmelman and Oneschuk inside the apartment. After the killings, rather than fleeing, he drove to a nearby smoke shop and held the customers inside at gunpoint. During the standoff he made statements about wanting to reach a Muslim religious contact by phone and about what he had done. Tampa police arrived and Arthurs surrendered peacefully approximately an hour after the hostage situation began. He was arrested without further violence. + +### Discovery of Russell's Explosives + +Arthurs cooperated with investigators after his arrest and began providing information about AWD. A search of the apartment revealed explosive materials belonging to Russell: precursor chemicals and components used in the manufacture of HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide diamine). Investigators also recovered AWD propaganda, membership records, and organizational documents. Russell returned from his National Guard training to find law enforcement at the scene and was subsequently arrested on federal explosives charges unrelated to the murders themselves. + +The search produced the first law enforcement documentation of AWD as an organized network, naming members across multiple states and revealing the scope of the organization Russell had built since 2015.[^1] + +### Legal Outcomes + +Devon Arthurs pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in Florida state court and received a life sentence. His cooperation with federal investigators fed into multiple subsequent federal prosecutions of AWD members, making him the primary inside source that enabled the government's case against the organization. + +Brandon Russell was convicted on charges of illegal possession of explosive device components and sentenced to five years in federal prison, marking AWD's first documented federal conviction. He was later convicted a second time for conspiring with [[Sarah Beth Clendaniel]] to attack electrical substations and sentenced to 20 years.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ProPublica / PBS Frontline. "Armed and Dangerous." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-armed-and-dangerous +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Founder of Violent Extremist Organization Sentenced for Conspiracy to Damage and Destroy Energy Facilities." 2024. diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2019 AWD Nuclear Congress.md b/40 - EVENTS/2019 AWD Nuclear Congress.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..92536e1b --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2019 AWD Nuclear Congress.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - JamesMason + - FBI + - FBIInformant + - OperationErsteSaule +start: 2019 +location: "Las Vegas, Nevada" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "The 2019 AWD Nuclear Congress was an Atomwaffen Division leadership gathering in Las Vegas organized by FBI informant Joshua Caleb Sutter, notable for James Mason's first in-person appearance with AWD and for triggering Operation Erste Saule." +--- + +The 2019 AWD Nuclear Congress was an in-person leadership gathering of [[Atomwaffen Division]] held in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] in approximately September 2019 and organized by [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]], then serving as a paid [[FBI]] informant whose FBI-provided funds covered member travel and lodging. [[James Mason]], author of *[[Siege]]* and the foundational ideological figure of [[Siege Culture|siege culture]] accelerationism, attended and delivered speeches - his first documented in-person appearance with AWD. A propaganda video posted on September 30, 2019 (the birthday of Nazi figure [[Savitri Devi]]) publicized the event. The gathering led directly to [[Operation Erste Saule]], the media harassment campaign that resulted in the February 2020 federal arrests of [[Kaleb Cole]], [[Cameron Shea]], and others.[^1] + +### Organization and Funding + +Sutter organized the Nuclear Congress under his alias "swissdiscipline." His FBI handlers were aware of and funded member attendance; the FBI payments to Sutter that covered this period totaled $78,133.20 plus expense advances from February 7, 2018 onward, in addition to prior payments stretching back to 2003. This means that federal funds paid by the FBI to its informant were used to organize and facilitate AWD's primary leadership gathering of 2019. This dimension of the Nuclear Congress became public through court documents in the federal prosecution of Kaleb Cole, when motion-to-suppress filings established Sutter's informant status in 2021.[^2] + +### Attendees and Content + +The propaganda video shows Mason standing with approximately 12 AWD members in military uniforms bearing AWD patches, all masked. Mason spoke about the necessity of murder and "small lone wolf terror attacks" against the government. Members delivered prepared speeches "theorizing about the way forward for the group." The video's binary code translated to "select presentations to be presented to the public," indicating additional content existed beyond the released footage. + +Mason's speeches were later published in full on the American Futurist website under the title "The Nuclear Congress Transcripts: Philosophy of Siege." The September 30 release date was chosen to coincide with Savitri Devi's birthday, a calendar date significant in the neo-Nazi occultist tradition AWD had adopted through its ToB relationship. + +Mason's Nuclear Congress appearance was notable as his first public in-person meeting with AWD, translating his status as the intellectual godfather of *Siege* culture into a documented physical presence at the organization's leadership summit. + +### Operation Erste Saule + +Following the Nuclear Congress, [[Cameron Shea]] created an encrypted [[Wire]] messaging group named "[[Operation Erste Saule]]" (German: "First Pillar") to coordinate a campaign of harassment and intimidation against journalists and civil rights organizations who had reported on AWD. The Nuclear Congress is explicitly named in the criminal complaint affidavit for Kaleb Cole's arrest (Western District of Washington, February 26, 2020) as the gathering after which the conspiracy to harass media figures was formulated. + +The subsequent campaign - mailing threatening posters bearing swastikas and phrases including "We know where you live" and "Death to Pigs" to journalists and Jewish activists - led to the simultaneous federal arrests in multiple states in February 2020 that effectively dismantled AWD's national leadership.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Vice. "New Video May Signal Dangerous Change For Neo-Nazi Terror Cell Atomwaffen." September 2019. https://www.vice.com/en/article/new-video-may-signal-dangerous-change-for-neo-nazi-terror-cell-atomwaffen/; Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ +[^2]: Vice. "FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim." 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/fbi-bankrolled-publisher-of-occult-neo-nazi-books-feds-claim/ +[^3]: The Daily Beast. "Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Division's Media Obsession Could Be Its Downfall." March 2020. https://www.thedailybeast.com/neo-nazi-group-atomwaffen-divisions-media-obsession-could-be-its-downfall/; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-WDWA. "Arrests in Four States of Racially Motivated Violent Extremists Targeting Journalists and Others." February 2020. https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/arrests-four-states-racially-motivated-violent-extremists-targeting-journalists-and diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings.md b/40 - EVENTS/2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4eaa9cc5 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SaintsCulture + - GreatReplacementTheory + - NewZealand + - TerrorgramCollective +date: 2019-03-15 +location: "Christchurch, New Zealand" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "On March 15, 2019, Brenton Tarrant killed 51 people at two Christchurch, New Zealand mosques in a live-streamed attack, inspiring the founding of the Terrorgram Collective and becoming the most cited precedent event in post-2019 neo-Nazi accelerationist attacks." +--- + +On March 15, 2019, [[Brenton Tarrant]] attacked [[Al Noor Mosque]] and [[Linwood Islamic Centre]] in [[Christchurch, New Zealand]] during Friday prayers, killing 51 people and wounding 40. He live-streamed the Al Noor attack on Facebook via a helmet-mounted camera and distributed a 74-page manifesto titled "The Great Replacement" through 8chan and other platforms before the attack began. He was apprehended within 21 minutes of the first shots. Tarrant pleaded guilty to all charges and received life imprisonment without possibility of parole on August 27, 2020, the first such sentence in New Zealand's history. + +The Christchurch attack is the single most cited event across the post-2019 neo-Nazi accelerationist attack record. [[Terrorgram Collective]] was co-founded in the summer of 2019 explicitly in response to Christchurch, with [[Pavol Beňadik]] and [[Matthew Althorpe]] framing Tarrant's attack as the operational template for subsequent [[Saints Culture|saint]] attacks. The inspiration chain from Christchurch runs through [[Payton Gendron]] (Buffalo, May 2022), [[Juraj Krajčík]] (Bratislava, October 2022), [[Arda Küçükyetim]] (Eskisehir, August 2024), [[Nikita Casap]] (Waukesha, February 2025), and [[Cain Clark]]'s manifesto "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" (San Diego, May 2026).[^1] + +### The Attack + +Tarrant drove to Al Noor Mosque on Deans Avenue in central Christchurch, New Zealand at approximately 1:40 PM on March 15, 2019, a Friday, during the peak of midday prayers. He opened fire at the entrance and continued through the mosque, killing 50 people. He then drove to Linwood Islamic Centre approximately six kilometers away and killed one additional person. Armed police apprehended him in his vehicle. + +The Facebook stream was removed after approximately 17 minutes but was captured and redistributed widely through [[Telegram]] and other platforms. New Zealand immediately moved to criminalize possession of both the footage and the manifesto, making it one of the few countries with specific laws targeting the Christchurch materials. + +The 51 victims were worshippers from dozens of countries who had emigrated to New Zealand. The youngest victim was three years old.[^2] + +### The Manifesto and Christchurch as Strategic Template + +"The Great Replacement" manifesto explicitly positioned the attack as a strategic act intended to inspire future violence rather than as an end in itself. Tarrant wrote that he hoped the attack would provoke government overreaction, demoralize moderates, and demonstrate that a single individual could shift political conditions. He cited [[Dylann Roof]]'s 2015 Charleston church shooting as proof of this possibility. + +The manifesto's format - a question-and-answer self-interview covering ideology, strategy, tactics, and inspiration - became a template that subsequent attackers including [[Payton Gendron]] directly copied. Its explicit call for imitation, combined with its operational detail and its live-stream format, made it the most influential single piece of accelerationist content produced in the 2010s-2020s period.[^3] + +### Terrorgram's Founding Response + +[[Pavol Beňadik]] and [[Matthew Althorpe]] co-founded Terrorgram in the summer of 2019, specifically motivated by Christchurch and designed to extend its influence. Beňadik began building his Slovak radicalization network immediately after March 15, identifying Tarrant as the foundational saint whose example his channels would promote. His mentorship of [[Juraj Krajčík]] began in August 2019 - five months after Christchurch. Terrorgram's three major publications all engaged with Christchurch as a foundational event and with Tarrant as the model "saint" whose methodology should be extended. + +Canada designated Terrorgram as a terrorist entity on December 10, 2025, in part because its operational purpose was treating Christchurch as a template for ongoing replication.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019. New Zealand Government, 2020. +[^2]: New Zealand Ministry of Justice. Crown Law Terrorism Case Summary. August 2020. +[^3]: ICCT. "Christchurch Attacks and the Role of Online Propaganda." https://icct.nl/publication/christchurch-attacks-and-the-role-of-online-propaganda/ +[^4]: RSIS. "Bratislava Shooting: The Making of Terrorgram's First Saint." https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/rsis/bratislava-shooting-the-making-of-terrorgrams-first-saint/; Public Prosecution Service of Canada. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2022 Aracruz School Shootings.md b/40 - EVENTS/2022 Aracruz School Shootings.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9717f89e --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2022 Aracruz School Shootings.md @@ -0,0 +1,70 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Brazil + - SaintsCulture + - MassShooter +date: 2022-11-25 +location: "Aracruz, Espírito Santo, Brazil" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "On November 25, 2022, 16-year-old Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni attacked two schools in Aracruz, Brazil wearing AWD-associated symbols, killing four and wounding eleven in an attack attributed to Terrorgram Collective mentorship under Dallas Humber." +--- + +On November 25, 2022, [[Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni]] (16) attacked two schools in [[Aracruz, Espírito Santo]], Brazil, killing four people and wounding eleven. He attacked [[Escola Estadual Primo Bitti]] first and then [[Escola Praia de Coqueiral]], wearing military-style camouflage, a bulletproof vest, a skull mask associated with [[Atomwaffen Division]], and a homemade swastika armband. The attack was attributed in the prosecution of [[Terrorgram Collective]] leader [[Dallas Humber]] to her guidance: approximately one month before the attack, Humber and co-leader [[Matthew Robert Allison]] discussed a Brazilian contact planning "a racially motivated school attack in Brazil" in a secret Telegram chat, and Humber subsequently created Terrorgram "saint cards" for Castiglioni, characterizing him as "her kid." The Aracruz shootings are listed as the most lethal Terrorgram-attributed attack in Humber's sentencing documents and as one of the attacks [[Matthew Althorpe]]'s publications helped inspire in his Canadian sentencing (March 27, 2026).[^1] + +### The Attacks + +Castiglioni struck Escola Estadual Primo Bitti first during school hours on November 25, 2022. The four people killed were: [[Selena Zagrillo]] (12), a student who was shot while hiding under a desk; [[Maria da Penha Pereira de Melo Banhos]] (48), a teacher who was attempting to shield students; [[Cybelle Passos Bezerra Lara]] (45); and [[Flavia Amoss Merçon Leonardo]] (38). Eleven additional people were wounded across both school sites. Castiglioni was apprehended at or near the scene. + +### Terrorgram Attribution + +The DOJ's case against Humber established the specific mechanism of Terrorgram's involvement. Court documents confirmed that in a secret Telegram channel on approximately October 23, 2022, Humber and Allison discussed a Brazilian contact's planned attack. The one-month gap between that conversation and the Aracruz shootings aligns with the attack date, and prosecutors attributed the event to Humber's guidance. Humber's post-attack creation of saint cards for Castiglioni - and her affectionate description of him as "her kid" - confirmed the relationship was not purely passive circulation of ideology but active mentorship of the kind Humber had also maintained with the [[Juraj Krajčík|Bratislava]] and other attackers. + +This attribution placed the Aracruz attack within Terrorgram's documented operational pattern: the network maintained direct contact with individuals planning attacks, produced saint cards celebrating completed attacks, and used those cards to inspire the next attack.[^2] + +### Prosecutions and Sentences + +Brazilian courts sentenced Castiglioni to three years in juvenile detention in December 2022. He was released on supervised release by November 2025. No additional proceedings were reported following his completion of the sentence. + +Humber was sentenced to 30 years in U.S. federal prison on December 19, 2025, with the Aracruz attack explicitly listed as one of seven attacks or plots linked to her leadership. Althorpe received 20 years in Canadian federal prison on March 27, 2026, with the attack similarly cited in his agreed statement of facts.[^1] + +### Terrorgram Propagation + +On approximately November 27, 2022, two days after the attack, an unidentified [[Terrorgram Collective]] member using the pseudonym "Wolf Boy Winter" posted a video still from Escola Estadual Primo Bitti attack surveillance footage to a high-traffic Terrorgram channel. The same individual contributed multiple pages to "[[The Hard Reset]]," one of the network's primary propaganda publications, which the [[US Department of Justice]] later cited in the indictment of Dallas Humber and Matthew Robert Allison as a document created as part of a conspiracy to "recruit, radicalize, equip, advise, inspire and solicit others to commit attacks." In this way the Aracruz attack was immediately incorporated into Terrorgram's saint-documentation and propaganda pipeline, with attack footage transformed into promotional content within 48 hours.[^3] + +### Brazilian Investigative Response + +The [[Espírito Santo]] federal court was the first Brazilian institution to take direct legal action against the platform infrastructure. On April 26, 2023, Federal Judge [[Wellington Lopes da Silva]] of Espírito Santo ordered a nationwide suspension of [[Telegram]] after the platform failed to provide authorities with subscriber data from two neo-Nazi channels: the "Brazilian Anti-Semitic Movement" (Movimento Antissemitico Brasileiro) and the "Anti-Semitic Front" (Frente Antissemitica). Both channels had been recovered from the phone of the Aracruz perpetrator or a subsequent school-attack suspect, and contained what prosecutors described as murder tutorials, bomb-manufacturing instructions, and violent videos in addition to Nazi content. Judge da Silva ordered Google and Apple to remove Telegram from their app stores and directed mobile carriers to block access; Telegram was simultaneously fined approximately R$1 million (approximately US$198,000) per day until it complied. The suspension was lifted on April 28, 2023, after Telegram provided partial data.[^4] + +### Michele Prado and ABIN Reporting + +In 2023, [[Michele Prado]], founder of the Brazilian NGO [[Stop Hate Brasil]], submitted a formal report to [[ABIN]] (Agência Brasileira de Inteligência) and the [[Ministry of Justice and Public Security]] identifying Telegram channels linked to Terrorgram members operating in Brazil, including a channel associated with the "Wolf Boy Winter" pseudonym. Prado had been monitoring Terrorgram's Brazilian operations since at least 2022 and by 2023 documented more than 40 school-related violent incidents with some connection to online extremist networks over a three-year span. At least two of the Terrorgram-affiliated groups she identified had been created by adolescents.[^5] + +### Federal Police Statistics + +The Federal Police (Polícia Federal) recorded a 279% increase in investigations of Nazi propaganda on social media platforms from 2022 to 2023, making 2023 the highest year on record for such inquiries. A broader government accounting reported 2,830 ongoing investigations into school violence by June 2023, with over 380 arrests by that date. A GNET analysis published in November 2024 documented 177 Federal Police investigations into Nazi propaganda on social media platforms between January 2021 and February 2024, with 82 still ongoing at that date.[^5][^6] + +### Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira + +On January 13, 2025, the US State Department designated [[Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira]] of Belo Horizonte, [[Minas Gerais]], as a [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] in connection with his role as a Terrorgram channel administrator. Ferreira is the only Brazilian national publicly designated in connection with the Terrorgram Collective. The designation did not specifically allege direct contact between Ferreira and Castiglioni; the direct contact with the Aracruz perpetrator was documented through the Humber prosecution rather than through the Ferreira designation. The US government's naming of a Brazilian administrator confirms that the Terrorgram network had established domestic Brazilian infrastructure, not merely international reach into Brazil.[^7] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leader of Transnational Terrorist Group Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison." December 19, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-transnational-terrorist-group-sentenced-30-years-prison-soliciting-hate-crimes-and; Public Prosecution Service of Canada. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html + +[^2]: Raw Story. "Terrorgram: Exporting Terrorism." https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/terrorgram-terrorism/ + +[^3]: Raw Story. "'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the world." https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/terrorgram-terrorism/; ProPublica/FRONTLINE. "The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram: Inside a Global Online Hate Network." https://www.propublica.org/article/rise-and-fall-terrorgram-inside-global-online-hate-network-frontline-telegram + +[^4]: France 24. "Brazil court suspends Telegram app in neo-Nazi probe," April 26, 2023. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230426-brazil-court-suspends-telegram-app-in-neo-nazi-probe; TechTimes. "Brazilian Court Orders Temporary Suspension for Telegram Over Neo-Nazi Groups," April 26, 2023. https://www.techtimes.com/articles/290845/20230426/brazilian-court-orders-temporary-suspension-telegram-over-neo-nazi-groups.htm + +[^5]: GNET. "Terrorgram and Youth Radicalisation: Understanding Brazil's Online Extremist Landscape," November 22, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/11/22/terrorgram-and-youth-radicalisation-understanding-brazils-online-extremist-landscape/ + +[^6]: Rest of World (Matheus Andrade). "Research links school shootings with extremist online culture, gaming, and memes," 2023. https://restofworld.org/2023/online-extremism-linked-school-shootings-brazil/ + +[^7]: US Department of State. "Terrorist Designations of The Terrorgram Collective and Three Leaders," January 13, 2025. https://2021-2025.state.gov/office-of-the-spokesperson/releases/2025/01/terrorist-designations-of-the-terrorgram-collective-and-three-leaders/; Federal Register Vol. 90, No. 10, Document 2025-00756, January 15, 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/15/2025-00756/specially-designated-global-terrorist-designations-of-the-terrorgram-collective-ciro-daniel-amorim diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2022 Bratislava LGBTQ+ Bar Shooting.md b/40 - EVENTS/2022 Bratislava LGBTQ+ Bar Shooting.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..19eef1c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2022 Bratislava LGBTQ+ Bar Shooting.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - AntiLGBT + - SaintsCulture + - Slovakia + - MassShooter +date: 2022-10-12 +location: "Bratislava, Slovakia" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "On October 12, 2022, Juraj Krajčík killed two people at the Tepláreň LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava after Terrorgram mentorship by Pavol Beňadik, becoming the first attack attributed to Terrorgram's radicalization pipeline and Krajčík its first 'saint.'" +--- + +On October 12, 2022, [[Juraj Krajčík]] (19) drove to [[Tepláreň]], an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava's Old Town district, and opened fire on its entrance area, killing [[Matúš Horváth]] and [[Juraj Vankulič]] (Vankulič was non-binary) and wounding [[Radka Trokšiarová]]. He fled the scene and died by suicide the following morning. Slovak police recovered his manifesto, which cited [[Terrorgram Collective]] co-founder [[Pavol Beňadik]] by his alias "Slovakbro" as a direct mentor, and [[Payton Gendron]] (the May 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooter) as his "final nudge" to act. The Bratislava attack was the first event formally attributed to Terrorgram's radicalization infrastructure and was immediately designated within the network as a "saint" event - the first in the Terrorgram [[Saints Culture|saints canon]].[^1] + +### The Attack + +Krajčík drove to Tepláreň on the evening of October 12, 2022, a Wednesday. He fired at the bar's exterior area and entrance, killing Horváth and Vankulič outside the bar. Trokšiarová was wounded. He then fled. Slovak police located his body in a Bratislava park the following morning; he had died by suicide. The attack lasted a matter of minutes. + +Beňadik had been arrested by Slovak authorities in May 2022, five months before the attack, but the years of prior mentorship he had provided Krajčík were not interrupted by that arrest. Krajčík had been in Beňadik's Telegram channels from approximately August 2019, when he was 15 or 16 years old. By October 2022 the radicalization pipeline was complete.[^2] + +### Manifesto and Terrorgram Connection + +Krajčík's manifesto, recovered by Slovak police, detailed his ideological development and named his influencers. He cited Beňadik by alias as a direct mentor. He identified Gendron as his "final nudge," indicating the Buffalo attack, which had occurred five months earlier in May 2022, provided the immediate operational trigger. Beňadik's Terrorgram channels had explicitly called for Slovak "saints" to emerge in the [[Saints Culture|saint tradition]] founded by [[Brenton Tarrant]]'s 2019 Christchurch attack. + +The manifesto's framing placed the attack squarely within the Terrorgram ideological framework: the attacker as a soldier in an ongoing campaign of acceleration, the attack as a contribution to a chain of violence intended to hasten societal collapse, and the shooter as a willing martyr whose death would be celebrated within the network.[^1] + +### Terrorgram Attribution and "First Saint" Designation + +Within Terrorgram channels, Krajčík was elevated to "saint" status immediately following the attack. Trading-card-style [[Saints Culture|saint graphics]] were produced and circulated through Terrorgram's Telegram infrastructure, adding Krajčík to the canon of figures whose example the network presented as worthy of emulation. Researchers at the [[RSIS]] and [[CTC West Point]] subsequently identified the Bratislava attack as the first mass-casualty event directly attributable to Terrorgram's operational mentorship structure. + +The [[Terrorgram Collective]] Canada designation (December 10, 2025) and the [[Matthew Althorpe]] Canadian sentencing proceeding (March 27, 2026) both identified the Bratislava attack as one of at least six attributed to the network's propaganda and mentorship activities. Justice Jane Kelly, sentencing Althorpe, found a direct connection between his publications and Krajčík's radicalization.[^3] + +### Prosecution Outcomes + +Because Krajčík died by suicide, he faced no prosecution. His attack fed directly into the proceedings against Beňadik, who had been arrested before the attack but whose channels had provided the years of mentorship Krajčík drew on. Slovak prosecutors cited the Bratislava attack explicitly in Beňadik's trial; he was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison for inciting the overthrow of the democratic constitutional system and for acts of terrorism. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: RSIS. "Bratislava Shooting: The Making of Terrorgram's First Saint." https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/rsis/bratislava-shooting-the-making-of-terrorgrams-first-saint/ +[^2]: ProPublica. "Telegram, Terrorgram Collective, Bratislava Murders." https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate +[^3]: Public Prosecution Service of Canada. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2022 Buffalo Supermarket Shooting.md b/40 - EVENTS/2022 Buffalo Supermarket Shooting.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e26fa341 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2022 Buffalo Supermarket Shooting.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SaintsCulture + - GreatReplacementTheory + - AntiBlack + - TerrorgramCollective + - NewYork + - USA + - MassShooter +date: 2022-05-14 +location: "Buffalo, New York" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Payton Gendron killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, 2022, livestreaming on Twitch while citing Brenton Tarrant's manifesto, sentenced to consecutive life terms and named by Juraj Krajčík as his 'final nudge.'" +--- + +On May 14, 2022, [[Payton Gendron]] (18) drove approximately 200 miles from his home in [[Conklin, New York]] to the [[Tops Friendly Markets|Tops supermarket]] on Jefferson Avenue in the predominantly Black East Side neighborhood of [[Buffalo, New York]] and opened fire, killing 10 people and wounding 3. All 10 killed were Black; Gendron had selected the location specifically for its demographics. He livestreamed the attack through a helmet-mounted camera on [[Twitch]] until the platform removed the stream approximately two minutes into the attack. He had distributed a 180-page manifesto explicitly framed as continuing [[Brenton Tarrant]]'s 2019 [[2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings|Christchurch attack]]. Gendron pleaded guilty in November 2022 and received multiple consecutive life sentences without parole in state and federal proceedings. [[Juraj Krajčík]] named Gendron as his "final nudge" before the October 2022 [[2022 Bratislava LGBTQ+ Bar Shooting|Bratislava]] attack; [[Nikita Casap]] also cited him before his February 2025 Wisconsin killings.[^1] + +### The Attack + +Gendron arrived at the Tops supermarket parking lot at approximately 2:30 PM. He was wearing body armor and a helmet with a mounted camera. He opened fire in the parking lot and continued into the store. [[Aaron Salter Jr.]], a retired police officer employed as the store's security guard, fired at Gendron but was unable to penetrate his body armor and was killed. Gendron surrendered to police at the scene after the attack. + +The Twitch stream was active for approximately two minutes before the platform removed it. The footage was captured and redistributed widely through [[Telegram]] and other platforms, repeating the redistribution pattern established after Christchurch. + +The 10 people killed were: [[Aaron Salter Jr.]], [[Roberta Drury]], [[Margus Morrison]], [[Andre Mackniel]], [[Katherine Massey]], [[Heyward Patterson]], [[Celestine Chaney]], [[Geraldine Talley]], [[Ruth Whitfield]], and [[Pearl Young]].[^2] + +### Manifesto and Radicalization + +Gendron's 180-page manifesto borrowed Tarrant's format: a question-and-answer self-interview alongside strategic, ideological, and operational arguments. It adopted the "great replacement" conspiracy theory framework Tarrant had drawn from French writer Renaud Camus. The manifesto documented Gendron's radicalization through 4chan's /pol/ board and accelerationist content, included specific targeting research explaining his choice of Buffalo's East Side, and framed the attack as a contribution to ongoing acceleration. He had no documented connection to an organized network prior to the attack. + +The Terrorgram Collective circulated Gendron saint-card graphics in the same format as Tarrant materials, incorporating him into the Terrorgram saints canon and presenting his attack as an inspiration pipeline to subsequent consumers of the network's content.[^3] + +### Conviction and Sentencing + +Gendron was charged in state court with ten counts of first-degree murder as a hate crime and related charges. He pleaded guilty in November 2022. On February 15, 2023, Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan sentenced him to life in prison without possibility of parole on each murder count, to run consecutively. + +Federal prosecutors separately charged Gendron with hate crimes, obstruction of religion, and use of a firearm in a hate crime. He pleaded guilty to federal charges and was sentenced to additional consecutive life terms by U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Payton Gendron Sentenced to Multiple Life Terms in Federal Hate Crime Case." 2023. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/payton-gendron-sentenced-multiple-life-terms-federal-hate-crime-case +[^2]: Buffalo News. "The 10 victims of the Buffalo Tops supermarket shooting." May 2022. +[^3]: ProPublica. "Telegram, Terrorgram Collective, Bratislava Murders." https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy.md b/40 - EVENTS/2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cf4fc4e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy.md @@ -0,0 +1,103 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - InfrastructureAttack + - FederalCase + - FISA + - Section702 + - Maryland + - USA +date: 2023-02-03 +location: "Baltimore, Maryland" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "In February 2023, AWD founder Brandon Russell and Sarah Beth Clendaniel were arrested for conspiring to simultaneously destroy five Baltimore Gas and Electric substations, resulting in 20-year and 18-year federal sentences respectively and exposing documented failures of post-conviction supervision and FBI intelligence integration." +--- + +In early February 2023, the [[FBI]] arrested [[Brandon Russell]] (then 28, [[Orlando, Florida]]), the founder of [[Atomwaffen Division]], and [[Sarah Beth Clendaniel]] (then approximately 35, [[Catonsville, Maryland]]) for conspiring to attack multiple electrical power substations in the [[Baltimore]] area simultaneously, with the goal of triggering widespread blackouts they believed would produce social breakdown and accelerate the race war they sought. Both were charged in the [[District of Maryland]]. Clendaniel pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison on September 24, 2024; Russell was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on August 7, 2025. The conspiracy represented Russell's second federal conviction, following his 2018 explosives conviction arising from the [[2017 Tampa Atomwaffen Murders]].[^1] + +### Operational Timeline + +The conspiracy's operational phase began in June 2022, when Russell made contact through encrypted neo-Nazi [[Telegram]] channels with [[Christopher Jackson (Baltimore CHS)|Christopher Jackson]], a [[confidential human source]] (CHS) working for the FBI. Jackson was a civilian researcher specializing in extremism and domestic terrorism who had been recruited into FBI informant work through an agent acquaintance. + +Between November 2022 and February 3, 2023, Russell and Clendaniel finalized their operational planning through encrypted communications monitored by Jackson. Their methodology called for simultaneous rifle attacks on multiple [[Baltimore Gas and Electric]] (BGE) transformer substations, using the simultaneity to prevent grid operators from rerouting power and inducing a cascading failure across the Baltimore metropolitan area. Clendaniel had scouted specific substations and identified five target sites. + +On January 29, 2023, Clendaniel told Jackson in a recorded telephone conversation that the five targeted substations were located near [[Norrisville, Maryland|Norrisville]], [[Reisterstown, Maryland|Reisterstown]], and [[Perry Hall, Maryland|Perry Hall]], with two additional substations near Baltimore City. She described the plan as capable of causing a city-wide blackout: "it would permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully." The plan's explicit framing was accelerationist: destroying infrastructure serving a majority-Black city to ignite racial conflict and social collapse.[^2] + +The theoretical framework underlying the conspiracy was AWD's core accelerationist doctrine, derived from [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]* and developed through AWD's organizational history: that infrastructure attacks are catalysts for the collapse of the existing political order, and that collapse creates the conditions for racial reconstitution. The Baltimore power grid attack was the most concrete application of AWD's infrastructure attack theory ever brought to prosecution. + +[[Dallas Humber]], who led the [[Terrorgram Collective]] inner circle during the same period, was separately alleged in court documents to have remained in contact with Clendaniel and Russell, though Humber was not charged as a co-conspirator specifically in the substation plot. + +### Charges and Case Numbers + +Russell and Clendaniel were arrested on February 3, 2023. Both were charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1366(b) (conspiracy to damage an energy facility). The single-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleged that the pair conspired to destroy energy facilities causing damage exceeding $100,000 and causing a "significant interruption and impairment" of the facilities. Federal prosecutors estimated the intended monetary loss at over $75 million. + +Clendaniel faced a second count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)) for weapons she had acquired in furtherance of the plot despite her felon status. + +Case numbers: Russell was docketed as [[United States v. Russell, 1:23-cr-00029 (D. Md.)]] and Clendaniel as [[United States v. Clendaniel, 1:23-cr-00056 (D. Md.)]]. Both cases were assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge [[James K. Bredar]], District of Maryland.[^3] + +### The FISA Section 702 Issue + +During pretrial proceedings, Russell's defense attorneys [[Kobie Flowers]] and [[Ian Goldstein]] filed a motion on June 10, 2024, arguing that the government had used [[Section 702]] of the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] to surveil Russell and had failed to provide the statutorily required FISA notice. The specific documentary basis was the [[ODNI]]'s "FISA Section 702 Value Vignettes," a February 14, 2024 public document released at intelligence.gov to demonstrate Section 702's operational value. One vignette described a 2023 FBI investigation in which U.S. person queries of Section 702 databases showed that "a person located inside the U.S. was in regular contact with an unspecified foreign terrorist group, had acquired the means to conduct an attack and had already identified specific targets in the U.S." The FBI disrupted a "potentially imminent terrorist attack" against critical infrastructure within a month, using "iterative U.S. person queries" as the subject shifted communications platforms. The defense argued Russell's case matched every disclosed detail of that vignette and that no other known open case did.[^4] + +The [[American Civil Liberties Union]]'s [[ACLU National Security Project]] joined the defense for the limited purpose of pressing the Section 702 challenge. ACLU senior staff attorney [[Ashley Gorski]] stated: "Based on the government's own disclosures, the ACLU has good reason to believe that Mr. Russell was subjected to Section 702 surveillance and his case is a rare and important opportunity to challenge the government's practice of conducting warrantless 'backdoor searches' of its Section 702 databases to locate the communications of Americans."[^4b] + +The classified ex parte hearing before Senior U.S. District Judge [[James K. Bredar]] took place on July 23, 2024. Bredar's August 9, 2024 public order stated he was "satisfied" the government would not use FISA-derived evidence at trial and that "there is no basis on which to believe or suspect that the rights of the defendant have been violated in any way with respect to any government activities authorized by FISA." Bredar held Russell was "not entitled to notice." The ruling's critical limitation was its scope: Bredar addressed only whether FISA evidence would be introduced at trial and whether that triggered a notice obligation, and did not resolve whether Section 702 collection had occurred at an investigative stage prior to the FBI informant's June 2022 contact with Russell. The question of whether a Section 702-derived tip initiated the investigation remained publicly unresolved after the verdict.[^4] + +### Witness Disguise Ruling + +In September 2024, Bredar ruled that the three government witnesses who had operated as undercover sources (CHS-1 Christopher Jackson, CHS-2, and one FBI employee) could testify using "light disguise" (altered hairstyle or facial hair), pseudonyms, and with partial courtroom closure. Members of the public and press were permitted in an overflow room with audio and video feed. The ruling cited Russell's demonstrated capacity to threaten witnesses, finding that "Russell, and those sympathetic to him, present an unusually heightened threat of danger to societal institutions and witnesses seen as cooperating with those institutions." Russell's defense attorney [[Ian Goldstein]] argued the ruling created "a huge impediment to investigating and presenting a defense."[^5] + +### Trial + +The trial began January 28, 2025, and concluded February 4, 2025, with Russell's conviction on the single conspiracy count. The government presented recorded phone calls, encrypted messages, and testimony from the three disguised witnesses. Jackson testified January 29-30. The government also introduced voluminous material from private [[Terrorgram Collective|Terrorgram]] Telegram channels in which Russell, under the pseudonyms "Ouroborus," "Homunculus," and "Raccoon," had shared infrastructure attack instructions, including the Terrorgram publication "Make It Count," and had attempted to recruit Jackson into the [[National Socialist Resistance Front]] (NSRF) in fall 2022.[^6] + +The prosecution was cited in subsequent terrorism policy discussions as the first major federal case treating AWD-derived infrastructure attack planning as terrorism-level conduct, providing a template for how law enforcement might address similar accelerationist infrastructure plots from successor networks. + +### The Undisclosed Payment and New-Trial Motion + +On January 27, 2025 (the night of jury selection, two days before Jackson testified), the government paid Jackson an additional $7,180.11. Jackson testified he had received "about $70,000." The [[Department of Justice]] disclosed the additional payment on March 19, 2025, six weeks after the verdict. + +Russell moved for a new trial, arguing Jackson had committed perjury and that the failure to disclose the additional payment before testimony violated [[Brady v. Maryland]]. On April 29, 2025, Bredar denied the motion, finding the non-disclosure "unfortunate" but the error insufficient to undermine the verdict given Jackson's limited scope of testimony, corroborating evidence, and the jury's knowledge of Jackson's prior disclosed compensation. The total FBI payments to Jackson across all investigations was approximately $80,000.[^7] + +### Clendaniel Plea and Sentencing + +Clendaniel pleaded guilty on May 14, 2024. On September 24, 2024, Bredar sentenced her to 18 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Bredar stated the crime was "a means of furthering her violent white supremacist ideology," found the planned attacks "extreme in every respect," and concluded he was "not convinced she wouldn't act on them in the future."[^8] + +### Russell Conviction and Sentencing + +Russell was convicted February 4, 2025, and sentenced August 7, 2025. Bredar imposed the statutory maximum of 20 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release, including close monitoring of electronic devices. Bredar called Russell "the brains" behind the operation, the source of its "intellectual horsepower," and characterized him as "profoundly dangerous," noting: "He seeks to destroy the very fabric of society. As his conduct before and after the conviction demonstrates, there is nothing that will stop him." Bredar also identified Russell as having "significant mental health issues."[^9] + +### The FBI Monitoring Gap + +The conspiracy took shape during Russell's three-year [[supervised release]] term following his August 23, 2021, release from federal prison on his 2018 explosives conviction. Russell's 2018 sentence from Senior U.S. District Judge [[Susan Bucklew]] in the [[Middle District of Florida]] included three years of supervised release administered by the [[U.S. Probation Office]] in [[Tampa, Florida]]. The conditions imposed no restrictions on Russell's ability to associate with extremist organizations or his former AWD comrades. [[Pete Simi]], a sociologist at [[Chapman University]] who has studied American far-right movements for more than two decades, stated publicly that Russell "could've restarted the Atomwaffen Division without violating the conditions of his release." Requests for comment on Russell's supervision made to the Tampa probation office went unanswered.[^10] + +The FBI had monitored Russell's prison communications since at least 2018 and was aware of his correspondence with Clendaniel throughout his incarceration. The June 2022 FBI informant contact with Russell represented proactive deployment of an asset rather than a response to a surveillance alert, suggesting either that monitoring produced no actionable concern before that point or that the FBI's intelligence was siloed from probation authorities in a way that prevented intervention during Russell's free movement in late 2021 and the first half of 2022. No congressional oversight hearing specifically addressed the Russell case monitoring gap; no [[DOJ Office of Inspector General]] report on the supervision failure had been released as of mid-2026.[^10] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Md. "White Supremacist Leader Found Guilty of Conspiring to Destroy Regional Power Grid." https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/white-supremacist-leader-found-guilty-conspiring-destroy-regional-power-grid; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Md. "Florida Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Conspiring to Destroy Baltimore Region Power Grid." August 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/florida-man-sentenced-20-years-conspiring-destroy-baltimore-region-power-grid + +[^2]: ABC News. "Suspected white supremacists arrested in plot to attack power stations, destroy Baltimore." February 6, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspects-arrested-plot-attack-power-stations-destroy-baltimore/story?id=96923380; CBS News. "Baltimore power grid attack plot." February 6, 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baltimore-power-grid-attack-plot-fbi-suspects-arrested-sarah-beth-clendaniel-brandon-russell/ + +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Md. "Federal Indictment Returned Charging Maryland Woman and Florida Man for Conspiring to Destroy Energy Facilities." February 14, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/federal-indictment-returned-charging-maryland-woman-and-florida-man-conspiring-destroy; CourtListener. United States v. Clendaniel, 1:23-cr-00056 (D. Md.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66811663/united-states-v-clendaniel/ + +[^4]: ODNI, "FISA Section 702 Value Vignettes," February 14, 2024. https://www.intelligence.gov/assets/documents/702-documents/FISA_Section_702_Vignettes-20240214_Final.pdf; Baltimore Sun. "Prosecutors will say in secret whether they used controversial spying tool against neo-Nazi accused in Baltimore power grid plot." June 27, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/27/prosecutors-will-say-in-secret-whether-they-used-controversial-spying-tool-against-neo-nazi-accused-in-baltimore-power-grid-plot/; Baltimore Banner. "FISA Evidence Won't Be Used Against Neo-Nazi Brandon Russell," August 2024. https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/brandon-russell-neo-nazi-fisa-evidence-XG2FGX6RCNEY3BPKPHQ4O27SAA/; Baltimore Sun. "Feds will not use evidence from spying program at trial." August 9, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/08/09/feds-evidence-spying-program-neo-nazi-accused-baltimore-power-grid-plot/ + +[^4b]: Baltimore Banner. "ACLU Signs On to Defend Neo-Nazi Charged with Power Grid Plot." https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/neo-nazi-baltimore-power-grid-aclu-national-security-defense-PA277N47ANCLPAMBKAFHXNZ45U/ + +[^5]: U.S. District Court, D. Md. Opinion re: Witness Disguise, Case No. 23-0056. September 2024. https://www2.mdd.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Opinions/23-0056%20Russell%20Opinion%20re%20witness%20disguise.pdf; The Daily Record. "Disguised witnesses to testify against neo-Nazi accused of planning MD power grid attack." September 2, 2024. https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/09/02/disguised-witnesses-to-testify-against-neo-nazi-accused-of-planning-power-grid-attack/ + +[^6]: SPLC Hatewatch. "Neo-Nazi network 'Terrorgram' goes to court over planned attack on substation." January 2025. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/neo-nazi-network-terrorgram-court-planned-attack-substation/; SPLC Hatewatch, Hannah Gais. "Leaked Chats, Documents Show Atomwaffen Founder's Path to Terror Plot." February 2023. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/leaked-chats-documents-show-atomwaffen-founders-path-terror-plot/; Just Security. "Nihilistic Violent Extremism and American Counterterrorism." https://www.justsecurity.org/113463/nihilistic-violent-extremism-american-counterterrorism/ + +[^7]: The Daily Record. "Neo-Nazi who plotted to destroy BGE substations denied new trial." May 2, 2025. https://thedailyrecord.com/2025/05/02/neo-nazi-baltimore-substation-trial-denial/ + +[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Md. "Maryland Woman and Florida Man Face Federal Charges for Conspiring to Destroy Energy Facilities." February 3, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/maryland-woman-and-florida-man-face-federal-charges-conspiring-destroy-energy-facilities; CBS Baltimore. "Woman sentenced to 18 years." September 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/woman-sentenced-maryland-neo-nazi-plot-destory-maryland-power-grid/ + +[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-D. Md. "Florida Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Conspiring to Destroy Baltimore Region Power Grid." August 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/florida-man-sentenced-20-years-conspiring-destroy-baltimore-region-power-grid; CNN. "Neo-Nazi group leader sentenced to 20 years in prison for planned Maryland power grid attack." August 7, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/07/us/neo-nazi-maryland-power-grid-plot-sentencing + +[^10]: The Baltimore Banner. "How neo-Nazi leader Brandon Russell came to be accused of targeting Baltimore substations." 2023. https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/brandon-russell-neo-nazi-sarah-clendaniel-power-substation-CH6ZNB2FVVDYREOUJEMGTODDCM/; SPLC. "Accelerationism." https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/accelerationism diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2023 Brazil Telegram Suspension Order.md b/40 - EVENTS/2023 Brazil Telegram Suspension Order.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..84acb3e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2023 Brazil Telegram Suspension Order.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +category: "Modern Incident" +tags: + - Event + - Brazil + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - LegalProceeding + - Telegram +date: 2023-04-26 +location: "Espírito Santo, Brazil" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "On April 26, 2023, Federal Judge Wellington Lopes da Silva of Espírito Santo ordered a nationwide suspension of Telegram and daily fines of approximately US$198,000 after the platform refused to produce subscriber data from two neo-Nazi channels, 'Brazilian Anti-Semitic Movement' and 'Anti-Semitic Front,' which had been recovered from a school shooting suspect's phone; the suspension was lifted April 28, 2023 after partial compliance." +--- + +On April 26, 2023, Federal Judge [[Wellington Lopes da Silva]] of the Federal Court in [[Espírito Santo]] ordered a nationwide suspension of the messaging platform [[Telegram]] throughout Brazil, citing the platform's refusal to produce subscriber data demanded by the [[Federal Police]] (Polícia Federal) in connection with a neo-Nazi extremism investigation linked to the wave of Brazilian school attacks that began with the [[2022 Aracruz School Shootings]].[^1] + +### The Order + +Judge da Silva's order required Google and Apple to remove Telegram from their app stores in Brazil and directed mobile carriers to block access to the platform nationwide. Telegram was simultaneously assessed a fine of R$1 million (approximately US$198,000) per day until it produced the required data. The order followed Telegram's partial non-compliance with a prior judicial demand: the platform had provided user data for the administrator of the "Brazilian Anti-Semitic Movement" (Movimento Antissemitico Brasileiro) channel but had declined to provide data on the channel's members or any data from a second channel, "Anti-Semitic Front" (Frente Antissemitica).[^1] + +### Evidence Basis + +Both channels had been recovered from the phone of a school shooting suspect. Brazilian investigators found murder tutorials, bomb-manufacturing instructions, violent videos, and Nazi content within the channels. The investigation formed part of Brazil's federal-level response to the school violence surge of late 2022 and early 2023, during which approximately 60% of the total count of Brazilian school attacks recorded over two decades occurred within a two-year period.[^2] + +### Resolution + +The suspension was lifted on April 28, 2023, approximately 48 hours after it was imposed, after Telegram provided partial compliance with the court's data production requirement. The fine assessment was not publicly quantified after the lifting of the order.[^1] + +### Terrorgram Channel Infrastructure + +The Espirito Santo order is the most specific documented instance in which Brazilian judicial process was applied to the platform infrastructure underlying the Terrorgram Collective's Brazilian operations. The two named channels (Brazilian Anti-Semitic Movement and Anti-Semitic Front) are not publicly confirmed to be Terrorgram Collective channels in the strict sense, but they operated within the same Telegram ecosystem that [[Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira]]'s channels inhabited, and their documented content (murder tutorials, bomb instructions, Nazi propaganda) is consistent with the Terrorgram propagation model documented in the [[Dallas Humber]] prosecution and in [[Michele Prado]]'s 2023 [[ABIN]] report.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: France 24. "Brazil court suspends Telegram app in neo-Nazi probe," April 26, 2023. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230426-brazil-court-suspends-telegram-app-in-neo-nazi-probe; TechTimes. "Brazilian Court Orders Temporary Suspension for Telegram Over Neo-Nazi Groups," April 26, 2023. https://www.techtimes.com/articles/290845/20230426/brazilian-court-orders-temporary-suspension-telegram-over-neo-nazi-groups.htm + +[^2]: The Lancet Regional Health (Americas). "The rise of school shootings and other related attacks in Brazil," March 27, 2024. PIIS2667-193X(24)00051-6. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(24)00051-6/fulltext + +[^3]: GNET. "Terrorgram and Youth Radicalisation: Understanding Brazil's Online Extremist Landscape," November 22, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/11/22/terrorgram-and-youth-radicalisation-understanding-brazils-online-extremist-landscape/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2024 Abundant Life Christian School Shooting.md b/40 - EVENTS/2024 Abundant Life Christian School Shooting.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2f166be5 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2024 Abundant Life Christian School Shooting.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - NVE + - TerrorgramCollective + - TrueCrimeCommunity + - SaintsCulture + - Wisconsin + - USA + - SchoolShooting +date: 2024-12-16 +location: Madison, Wisconsin +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: On December 16, 2024, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow killed two people at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin in an attack traced to radicalization through WatchPeopleDie and 764/Terrorgram-adjacent content. +--- + +On December 16, 2024, [[Natalie Rupnow]] (15) attacked [[Abundant Life Christian School]] in [[Madison, Wisconsin]] during a mixed-grade study hall, killing substitute teacher [[Erin M. West]] (42) and fellow student [[Rubi P. Vergara]] (14) and wounding six others before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound during transport to hospital. Investigators recovered a manifesto titled "War Against Humanity" from her home. The [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] (ISD) classified her as a [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism|nihilistic violent extremist]] whose radicalization ran from the [[WatchPeopleDie]] gore website through [[764 Network|764]]-affiliated and [[Terrorgram Collective]]-adjacent content. + +### The Attack + +Rupnow entered Abundant Life Christian School during school hours and opened fire in a study hall that contained students from multiple grades. West and Vergara were killed at the scene. Six additional students and one teacher sustained wounds; two students were hospitalized in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. Rupnow died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound while being transported to hospital. + +She used firearms owned by her father, [[Jeffrey Rupnow]] (43), who kept them in a safe but had shared the combination with her. The day before the attack he removed a Sig Sauer pistol from the safe and asked her to clean it. + +### Radicalization and Online Network + +ISD and [[ADL]] researchers documented that Rupnow held 16 social media accounts, nearly all containing references to past mass shooters. Her documented radicalization pathway ran from [[WatchPeopleDie]] (account created June 2023) through white supremacist, misogynistic, and antisemitic online spaces, into 764-affiliated content and a [[Telegram]] group connected to [[Arda Küçükyetim]]'s August 2024 [[2024 Eskisehir Mosque Stabbing|Eskisehir mosque stabbing]] livestream, which was itself affiliated with Terrorgram Collective. + +Her manifesto described humanity as "filth" and expressed admiration for past mass shooters, fitting the misanthropic nihilist profile that ISD uses to distinguish [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism|NVE]] cases from ideologically coherent [[Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism|IMVE]]. The [[True Crime Community]] (TCC) fandom and the SAVF ([[Soyjak Attacker Video Fandom]]) subculture, both of which treat mass killers as cultural figures for consumption and glorification, were documented as central to her online activity. + +### Rupnow and Solomon Henderson + +The WatchPeopleDie account registration dates and social media overlaps placed Rupnow in the same online milieu as [[Solomon Henderson]], the 17-year-old who killed one student at [[Antioch High School]] in Nashville, Tennessee on January 22, 2025. Both created WatchPeopleDie accounts in June 2023, and the two had followed each other on [[X (Twitter)|X]]. PBS Wisconsin reported that their online presence overlapped in at least the WatchPeopleDie and X contexts. + +Nashville Metropolitan Police Department's January 2026 investigation into Henderson found no evidence of co-conspirators or direct coordination between Rupnow and Henderson. The shared online spaces reflected convergent radicalization through the same platform ecosystems rather than a coordinated connection.[^1] + +### Legal Outcomes + +Because Rupnow died at the scene, she faced no criminal proceedings. In May 2025, Dane County prosecutors charged her father Jeffrey Rupnow on two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A Dane County Court Commissioner ordered him to stand trial on July 24, 2025. The charges carry a combined maximum of 18 years in prison. + +Rupnow's mother died of an apparent suicide following the shooting.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ISD. "Terror without ideology: The rise of nihilistic violence." https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/terror-without-ideology-the-rise-of-nihilistic-violence-an-isd-investigation/; PBS Wisconsin. "Madison and Nashville school shooters appear to have crossed paths in online extremist communities." https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/madison-and-nashville-school-shooters-appear-to-have-crossed-paths-in-online-extremist-communities/ +[^2]: PBS Wisconsin. "Judge orders Abundant Life shooter's father to stand trial." https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/judge-orders-abundant-life-shooters-father-to-stand-trial/; WPR. "Mother of Abundant Life shooter dies of apparent suicide." https://www.wpr.org/news/mother-abundant-life-christian-school-shooter-apparent-suicide diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2024 Eskisehir Mosque Stabbing.md b/40 - EVENTS/2024 Eskisehir Mosque Stabbing.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b1722250 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2024 Eskisehir Mosque Stabbing.md @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SaintsCulture + - AntiMuslim + - Turkey + - HateCrime +date: 2024-08-12 +location: "Eskisehir, Turkey" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "On August 12, 2024, Arda Küçükyetim stabbed five worshippers outside a mosque in Eskisehir, Turkey while livestreaming on Kick, in an attack confirmed as Terrorgram-inspired in U.S. and Canadian proceedings and resulting in a 75-year Turkish sentence." +--- + +On August 12, 2024, at approximately 18:22 local time, [[Arda Küçükyetim]] (approximately 18) approached [[Tepebaşı Mosque]] in [[Eskisehir, Turkey]] wearing a tactical vest, helmet, and glasses bearing the [[Black Sun]] symbol, and stabbed five worshippers. All five survived their wounds. He livestreamed the attack via a body-mounted camera on the platform [[Kick]]. Prior to the attack he had created a [[Telegram]] group through which a contact distributed his manifesto, photographs, and supporting documents. The manifesto cited [[Terrorgram Collective]]-associated "[[Saints Culture|saints]]" by name, including [[Brenton Tarrant]], Anders Breivik, Timothy McVeigh, and Stephen Paddock. The attack was confirmed as Terrorgram-inspired in two separate criminal sentencing proceedings: the U.S. sentencing of [[Dallas Humber]] on December 19, 2025, and the Canadian agreed statement of facts for [[Matthew Althorpe]] on March 27, 2026. Turkish courts sentenced Küçükyetim to 75 years and 5 months on September 24, 2025.[^1] + +### The Attack + +Küçükyetim arrived at Tepebaşı Mosque in Eskisehir on the evening of August 12, 2024 and began attacking worshippers outside the mosque's entrance. The five victims were [[Tevfik Arslan]] (73), [[Cumali Özemek]] (57), [[Naşit Özyürek]] (89), [[Metin Korkmaz]] (66), and [[Cemal Altıntaş]] (53). All survived their stab wounds, though several required hospitalization. Turkish police apprehended Küçükyetim at or near the scene. + +The Kick livestream was active during the attack and was shared through the Telegram group Küçükyetim had established beforehand. The stream link was also posted in a Terrorgram Collective group chat, placing the attack's documentation directly within Terrorgram's distribution infrastructure.[^2] + +### Manifesto and Ideology + +Küçükyetim's manifesto adopted accelerationist framing and the Terrorgram saints framework precisely, using the word "saint" to describe Tarrant, Breivik, McVeigh, and Paddock as inspirational models. It argued: "This system will eventually collapse... My actions and yours will accelerate this collapse and sooner or later the country, and then the world, will be covered in anarchy." The manifesto package also contained [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]*, Ted Kaczynski's manifesto, and [[Atomwaffen Division]] logos. + +The package included the "Haters Handbook," a [[Maniac Murder Cult]] (MKY) propaganda document. Researchers noted Küçükyetim drew from multiple overlapping accelerationist content ecosystems, but he is not documented as a formal MKY member. His confirmed network attribution, established through U.S. and Canadian criminal proceedings, is Terrorgram.[^2] + +[[Natalie Rupnow]], who carried out the December 2024 [[2024 Abundant Life Christian School Shooting|Abundant Life Christian School shooting]] in Madison, Wisconsin, had browsed Küçükyetim's Telegram chat prior to her own attack. + +### International Proceedings and Terrorgram Attribution + +On September 5, 2024, 24 days after the Eskisehir attack, FBI agents arrested Humber and [[Matthew Robert Allison]] in California in a coordinated operation connected to the broader Terrorgram investigation. Turkish media reported at the time that investigators were connecting the U.S. arrests to the Küçükyetim case. + +In the Humber sentencing in the Eastern District of California on December 19, 2025, DOJ prosecutors cited Küçükyetim's attack as one of several inspired or guided by Terrorgram's operational infrastructure under Humber's leadership. In Althorpe's agreed statement of facts before Ontario Superior Court on March 27, 2026, Canadian prosecutors documented that his publications had inspired "the stabbing of five people at a mosque in Turkey in 2024."[^1] + +### Turkish Sentencing + +On September 24, 2025, a Turkish court sentenced Küçükyetim to 75 years and 5 months, comprising four 15-year sentences for attempted murder, one sentence of 11 years and 8 months, and 3 years and 9 months for creating public panic.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: PPSC. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html; Daily Sabah. "US arrests white supremacists inspiring Turkish attacker." September 2024. https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/us-arrests-white-supremacists-inspiring-turkish-attacker/news +[^2]: ADL. "Turkey Attacker Inspired by Accelerationism and Mass Killers, Manifesto Shows." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/turkey-attacker-inspired-accelerationism-and-mass-killers-manifesto-shows; GNET. "Dead Society: Tracing the Online Dimension of a Militant Accelerationist-Inspired Attack in Turkey." August 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/08/16/dead-society-tracing-the-online-dimension-of-a-militant-accelerationist-inspired-attack-in-turkey/ +[^3]: Hurriyet Daily News. "Court sentences young man to 75 years for stabbing spree." September 2025. https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/court-sentences-young-man-to-75-years-for-stabbing-spree-213956 diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2025 Antioch High School Shooting.md b/40 - EVENTS/2025 Antioch High School Shooting.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3761da31 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2025 Antioch High School Shooting.md @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - ManiacMurderCult + - NVE + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - Tennessee + - USA + - MassShooter +date: 2025-01-22 +location: "Nashville, Tennessee" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Solomon Henderson (17) killed one student and wounded another at Antioch High School in Nashville on January 22, 2025, leaving a manifesto citing Maniac Murder Cult; police found no direct MKY coordination or co-conspirators." +--- + +On January 22, 2025, [[Solomon Henderson]] (17) opened fire at Antioch High School in [[Nashville, Tennessee]], killing student [[Josselin Corea Escalante]] (also called "Dayana") and wounding one other student before dying by suicide in the school hallway. Henderson left a manifesto that cited [[Maniac Murder Cult]] (MKY) as an ideological influence and named MKY leader [[Michail Chkhikvishvili]] by his alias "Commander Butcher." The [[Nashville Metropolitan Police Department]] conducted an investigation and issued an update in January 2026 concluding that Henderson had no co-conspirators and that there was no evidence of direct operational direction or coordination with MKY.[^1] + +### The Shooting + +Henderson carried out the attack on January 22, 2025, at Antioch High School in the Antioch neighborhood of south Nashville. He killed Josselin Corea Escalante, a fellow student, and wounded one additional student before turning the weapon on himself. The attack was over within minutes of Henderson entering the school. + +The manifesto Henderson left was recovered by law enforcement and analyzed for connections to known extremist networks. It explicitly cited MKY and named Chkhikvishvili, framing the attack in the language of MKY's "saint" tradition and indicating Henderson had consumed MKY content. At the time of the attack, Chkhikvishvili was awaiting extradition from Moldova on U.S. federal charges; he was extradited to the United States in May 2025 and pleaded guilty in November 2025. + +### Investigation and MKY Attribution + +The ADL's analysis of the Antioch attack identified Henderson's manifesto as drawing from "broad extremist beliefs and previous mass killers," with MKY content among the influences. The investigation did not produce evidence that Henderson had been in direct contact with Chkhikvishvili or other MKY members. + +Nashville MPD's January 2026 update explicitly addressed public speculation about MKY direction, concluding that Henderson acted alone and without co-conspirators. This places the Antioch attack in a category distinct from cases like the Aracruz, Brazil school shootings - where [[Dallas Humber]] had direct documented Telegram contact with the perpetrator in the month before the attack - and instead reflects MKY's reach through publicly circulated ideological content rather than operational mentorship.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ADL. "Antioch, Tenn. Shooter Inspired by Broad Extremist Beliefs and Previous Mass Killers." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/antioch-tenn-shooter-inspired-broad-extremist-beliefs-and-previous-mass-killers +[^2]: Nashville Metropolitan Police Department. Antioch High School shooting investigative update. January 2026. (MNPD public records) diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2025 Kyiv SBU Assassination.md b/40 - EVENTS/2025 Kyiv SBU Assassination.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e791c951 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2025 Kyiv SBU Assassination.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - Ukraine + - TheBase + - Russia + - FSB + - Assassination + - WhitePhoenix +summary: "The July 10, 2025 killing of SBU Colonel Ivan Voronych in Kyiv was claimed by The Base's Ukrainian cell White Phoenix and separately attributed by Ukrainian authorities to FSB-directed Russian operatives, leaving unresolved whether the two attributions describe a single coordinated operation or competing claims." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2025-07-10 +location: "Holosiivskyi district, Kyiv, Ukraine" +--- + +On July 10, 2025, [[Security Service of Ukraine]] (SBU) Colonel [[Ivan Voronych]] was shot and killed in the [[Holosiivskyi]] district of [[Kyiv]]. An unidentified assailant approached Voronych and fired five aimed shots with a silenced pistol; Voronych sustained multiple penetrating gunshot wounds and died at the scene. He was the highest-ranking SBU officer killed in a targeted assassination in Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.[^1] + +### Competing Claims + +Two separate attributions were made within days of the killing. + +[[White Phoenix]], the Ukrainian operational cell of [[The Base]] neo-Nazi network, issued a Telegram statement claiming it had carried out "a carefully planned" operation against Voronych as a "warning to the regime" of President [[Volodymyr Zelensky]]. The claim praised its "comrades" for the killing. + +The [[SBU]] announced separately that it had identified and killed two Russian operatives, a man and a woman, whom Ukrainian investigators said had been directed by Russia's [[Federal Security Service]] (FSB) to surveil Voronych and had subsequently been directed to a weapons cache containing a silenced firearm used in the killing. The SBU framed its response as attribution to Russian state actors.[^2] + +### Assessment of Attribution + +The two claims are not mutually exclusive. Counterterrorism sources told the [[Kyiv Independent]] they considered the White Phoenix claim credible. Possible interpretations include: that White Phoenix members conducted the killing as directed or facilitated by Russian intelligence, operating as a cutout; that White Phoenix made a false claim of responsibility for a killing conducted entirely by FSB-directed operatives; or that overlapping networks conducted the operation with dual knowledge. + +No Ukrainian government statement publicly confirmed The Base's involvement or linked White Phoenix to the FSB operatives the SBU described. The [[United States]] government made no public attribution regarding the killing.[^3] + +### Concurrent Activity + +The killing occurred in the same period that [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] had publicly posted cash-bounty offers on Telegram for attacks on Ukrainian officials, infrastructure, and security forces. The White Phoenix graffiti campaign across Ukrainian cities had been documented since late March 2025. If the claim was genuine, the Voronych killing would represent the first confirmed assassination attributable to The Base anywhere in the world. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CBS News, "Ukrainian spy agency officer shot dead with silenced pistol in Kyiv, reports say." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukrainian-spy-agency-officer-killed-kyiv-reports-ivan-voronych/; Kyiv Post, "Russo-American Neo-Nazi Group Claims Responsibility for Assassination of SBU Colonel in Kyiv." https://www.kyivpost.com/post/56428 + +[^2]: Kyiv Independent, "US-founded extremist group claims killing of SBU Colonel in Kyiv," July 2025. https://kyivindependent.com/us-founded-extremist-group-claims-killing-of-sbu-colonel-in-kyiv/; CNN, "Ukraine says it killed Russian agents suspected of assassinating intelligence officer," July 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/13/europe/ukraine-russia-sbu-assassination-intl + +[^3]: Novaya Gazeta Europe, "Ukraine wing of Russia-linked neo-Nazi group claims involvement in killing of security service colonel," July 2025. https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/07/16/ukraine-wing-of-russia-linked-neo-nazi-group-claims-involvement-in-killing-of-security-service-colonel-en-news diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting.md b/40 - EVENTS/2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a917bcc9 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting.md @@ -0,0 +1,70 @@ +--- +category: "Terrorism" +tags: + - Event + - MassShootingUSA + - AntiMuslim + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture + - AtomwaffenDivision + - Terrorgram + - TheBase + - SanDiego + - California + - 2020s +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "On May 18, 2026, Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego, killing three people and leaving an accelerationist manifesto citing Atomwaffen Division, Terrorgram, and The Base; both perpetrators died at the scene." +date: 2026-05-18 +location: "San Diego, California" +--- + +On May 18, 2026, [[Cain Clark|Cain Lee Clark]] (17) and [[Caleb Vazquez|Caleb Liam Vazquez]] (18) attacked the [[Islamic Center of San Diego]] (ICSD), the largest mosque in San Diego, located on Eckstrom Avenue in the Clairemont neighborhood. Three people were killed and one was wounded. Both perpetrators died at the scene - Clark shot Vazquez and then himself in their getaway vehicle approximately three-tenths of a mile from the mosque. The two had left a 75-page manifesto titled "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" drawn explicitly from [[Siege Culture|siege]] accelerationist ideology and citing [[Atomwaffen Division]], [[Terrorgram Collective|Terrorgram]], and [[The Base]] as organizations they were acting in support of. + +### Timeline + +At approximately 9:42 a.m., Clark's mother contacted San Diego police to report her son missing and raise concerns that he was suicidal. At approximately 11:43 a.m., police received active shooter calls at the ICSD. Officers arrived within four minutes. Three victims were shot outside the mosque in the initial attack; security guard [[Amin Abdullah]] engaged the shooters in a sustained gun battle, delaying their entry into the building and allowing staff and approximately 150 students in the attached school to shelter in place. The shooters fled after Abdullah's resistance. During their escape, they carried out a drive-by shooting that struck a landscaper with a bullet deflected by his helmet, causing no serious injury. + +At approximately 12:43 p.m. police confirmed the scene was contained. By 1:07 p.m. the threat was neutralized. Both suspects were found dead in a white BMW three-tenths of a mile from the ICSD. According to subsequent investigation, [[Caleb Vazquez]] had encouraged [[Cain Clark]] to shoot him; Clark shot Vazquez twice in the head inside the car and then killed himself.[^1] + +### Victims + +Three people were killed at the scene. Two victims were named in reporting as [[Mansour Kaziha]] and [[Nader Awad]]; a third victim was not immediately identified publicly. No children in the attached school were harmed.[^2] + +### The Manifesto: "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" + +The 75-page manifesto took its title from [[Brenton Tarrant]], the 2019 Christchurch shooter, framing the San Diego attack as a continuation of Tarrant's "momentum." It was explicitly accelerationist, arguing for indiscriminate violence to accelerate the collapse of liberal democratic society. + +The text explicitly named [[Atomwaffen Division]], [[Terrorgram Collective|Terrorgram]], and [[The Base]] as organizations the attack was carried out for. It cited [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]* and William Luther Pierce's *[[The Turner Diaries]]* as works that "should be read almost biblically by all soldiers of the white race." It praised [[Robert Bowers]] (the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooter) alongside Tarrant as models. + +Ideological content included explicit [[Great Replacement Theory]], describing Muslims as "invaders" and "existential threats"; pervasive antisemitism, framing Jews as "the universal enemy"; expressed incel ideology from both authors; and explicit rejection of mainstream conservatism, including anti-Trump positions consistent with the accelerationist critique of electoral politics. [[Cain Clark]] described himself in his section as a "Christian ecofascist." [[Caleb Vazquez]] praised Adolf Hitler as "the greatest man to ever walk this Earth." + +Physical evidence recovered from the scene included an SS logo on a fuel container found in the suspects' vehicle, a Sonnenrad patch and Atomwaffen Division logo on one shooter's tactical vest, and hate speech scrawled on one of the weapons.[^3][^4] + +### Prior Warning Signs + +In 2025, the Chula Vista Police Department received a tip from an acquaintance of Vazquez expressing concern about his interest in "extremist ideology and mass-casualty attacks." Officers reviewed his social media, which was described in police reporting as "littered with neo-Nazi rhetoric," but determined the situation did not meet the legal threshold for arrest. No charges were filed at that time. + +Clark's social media was described by investigators as reflecting "possible associations with nihilistic violent extremist ideology." No prior law enforcement contact with Clark was reported. The two perpetrators met online before meeting in person, having found each other through online spaces associated with accelerationist ideology.[^5] + +### Law Enforcement and Political Response + +The FBI opened a federal hate crime investigation. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl praised security guard [[Amin Abdullah]] as "pivotal" in preventing additional casualties. President Donald Trump issued a statement condemning the attack. No co-conspirators or third-party accomplices were identified; both perpetrators were deceased, precluding criminal prosecution. + +Trump adviser Laura Loomer drew significant criticism for social media posts following the attack that falsely characterized the victims and called for immigration enforcement actions targeting the ICSD and American Muslims. CAIR issued a statement calling the attack a product of rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in the political environment.[^6] + +### Ideological Lineage + +The attack's documented ideological genealogy connects it directly to the research subject of this vault. The manifesto's citations trace to the [[Siege Culture]] lineage: [[James Mason]]'s *Siege* (1992, compiled), popularized by [[Iron March]] beginning in 2015 and adopted as foundational text by [[Atomwaffen Division]] (founded on Iron March, October 2015). Terrorgram, cited in the manifesto as a recipient of the attack's dedication, distributed [[Martinet Press]] and [[Tempel ov Blood]] material through its channels. The manifesto's aesthetic - Sonnenrad imagery, AWD logo, Saints-culture format - reflects the visual grammar developed by Terrorgram and its predecessor networks. + +No confirmed connection to the [[764 Network|764]] network or [[Order of Nine Angles]] was established in reporting through May 21, 2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: NBC 7 San Diego. "Three killed, two suspects dead." May 18, 2026. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diego-police-responding-to-reports-of-an-active-shooter-at-the-islamic-center-of-san-diego/4025204/ +[^2]: Al Jazeera. "Mansour Kaziha, Nader Awad identified as victims in San Diego mosque attack." May 19, 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/19/mansour-kaziha-nader-awad-identified-as-victims-in-san-diego-mosque-attack +[^3]: ADL. "San Diego Mosque Shooters' Apparent Manifestos Reveal Anti-Muslim Extremism." May 2026. https://www.adl.org/resources/article/san-diego-mosque-shooters-apparent-manifestos-reveal-anti-muslim-extremism +[^4]: i24NEWS. "San Diego mosque shooters left 75-page neo-Nazi manifesto." https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/americas/artc-san-diego-mosque-shooters-left-75-page-neo-nazi-manifesto-blaming-jews-for-world-s-problems +[^5]: 10News. "Chula Vista police had prior contact with one suspect from Monday's shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego." May 2026. https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/south-bay-news/chula-vista-police-had-prior-contact-with-one-suspect-from-mondays-shooting-at-islamic-center-of-san-diego +[^6]: Fox 5 San Diego. "Trump responds to San Diego mosque attack." May 2026. https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/trump-responds-san-diego-mosque-attack/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/DoD Extremism Stand-Down (2021).md b/40 - EVENTS/DoD Extremism Stand-Down (2021).md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f27a6ea5 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/DoD Extremism Stand-Down (2021).md @@ -0,0 +1,73 @@ +--- +category: "Modern Incident" +tags: + - Event + - DomesticTerrorism + - Military + - USA + - WhiteSupremacy + - AtomwaffenDivision + - Policy +start: 2021-02-05 +end: 2021-12-20 +location: "Washington, D.C." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "The DoD Extremism Stand-Down was a 60-day Department of Defense-wide initiative ordered by Secretary Austin in February 2021 following the January 6 Capitol attack, culminating in a December 2021 working group report and multiple Inspector General evaluations documenting persistent gaps in tracking and prosecuting extremism in the military." +--- + +The DoD Extremism Stand-Down was a [[Department of Defense]] initiative ordered by Secretary of Defense [[Lloyd Austin]] on February 5, 2021, in response to revelations of active-duty and veteran participation in the January 6, 2021 attack on the [[U.S. Capitol]] and to longstanding concerns about white supremacist infiltration of the armed forces. The stand-down directed commanding officers across all services to conduct a one-day discussion session focused on extremism within a 60-day window. It produced a working group, a December 2021 report, and triggered two subsequent [[DoD Inspector General]] evaluations. No AWD-specific cases were publicly identified as surfacing directly from the stand-down process.[^1] + +### Austin's Order + +Secretary Austin signed the stand-down memorandum on February 5, 2021, less than three weeks after taking office. He wrote that the military's ability to defend the nation depends on the "oath of office to which we are all bound" and that extremist activities by service members "run counter to our core values." The memorandum directed each service to select one day within 60 days for leadership at all levels to conduct discussions covering: the importance of the oath of office; impermissible behaviors; and reporting procedures for suspected extremism.[^2] + +### Results of the Stand-Down + +The stand-down produced limited publicly documented outcomes. The [[Marine Corps]] reported 16 substantiated extremism cases over the prior three years, mostly social media posts. The [[FBI]] informed the Pentagon that it had 143 ongoing investigations involving current or former military members, with 68 pertaining to domestic extremism. The Defense Department did not centrally track extremism cases at the time and acknowledged this structural gap. By year's end, the department reported identifying roughly 100 service members involved in substantiated acts of extremism in 2021, but no AWD-specific cases were publicly attributed to the stand-down's disclosure process.[^3] + +### The Countering Extremist Activity Working Group (CEAWG) + +Austin established the [[Countering Extremist Activity Working Group]] (CEAWG) in April 2021 to develop policy recommendations. On December 20, 2021, the DoD released the CEAWG's "Report on Countering Extremist Activity Within the Department of Defense," a 21-page document summarizing: 294 allegations of extremist activity between January and September 2021; 281 opened investigations; 92 punitive or administrative actions; 75 unsubstantiated allegations; and 86 ongoing investigations. The report provided six recommendations across four lines of effort: Military Justice and Policy, Support and Oversight of the Insider Threat Program, Investigative Processes and Screening Capability, and Education and Training.[^4] + +The report did not name specific extremist organizations in its public version. The October 2020 Pentagon report to Congress (compiled under the Trump administration but not published until Roll Call reported on it in February 2021) had explicitly cited [[Atomwaffen Division]] by name, including a screenshot of a post by AWD founder [[Brandon Russell]] from [[Iron March]] bragging about sharing white supremacist views with fellow Guard members. That earlier report recommended that the Pentagon work more closely with the [[FBI]]'s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CARU) and [[National Gang Intelligence Center]] to identify extremist tattoos during recruitment, and that security clearance questionnaires include clearer screening for white supremacist links.[^5] + +### DoD Inspector General Reports + +The DoD IG produced two significant reports from this period. DODIG-2022-042, released December 2, 2021, was the first annual report to Congress required by Section 554 of the Fiscal Year 2021 [[National Defense Authorization Act]] (NDAA). It assessed the DoD's progress toward standardized policies for reporting and tracking extremism allegations, finding mixed implementation across services. + +DODIG-2022-095, released May 12, 2022, was a full evaluation of DoD efforts to address ideological extremism within the armed forces. Its project announcement had been made in January 2021. The report, available in [redacted form](https://media.defense.gov/2022/May/12/2002995443/-1/-1/1/DODIG-2022-095_REDACTED.PDF), found that the DoD had not implemented consistent policies and procedures across the services. The full text of the redacted version specifies findings on the service branches' relative compliance but does not name specific individuals or organizations in its publicly available portions.[^6] + +Subsequent annual NDAA Section 554 reports have continued documenting gaps: DODIG-2023-034 (released December 1, 2022) and DODIG-2024-034 (released November 30, 2023) each found persistent problems with how the services track and report extremism cases. + +### HASC Hearing: H.A.S.C. No. 117-14 + +On March 24, 2021, the [[House Armed Services Committee]] convened a full committee hearing titled "Extremism in the Armed Forces," designated H.A.S.C. No. 117-14, chaired by Representative [[Adam Smith]] (D-WA). Three witnesses testified:[^7] + +Dr. [[Audrey Kurth Cronin]], Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Security, Innovation and New Technology at [[American University]], testified on the structural and historical dimensions of military extremism. + +Ms. [[Lecia Brooks]], Chief of Staff of the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]], testified that SPLC had "identified dozens of former and active military personnel among the membership of some of the country's most dangerous and violent white supremacist groups," including [[Atomwaffen Division]]. Her testimony cited at minimum seven AWD members with confirmed military service records identified through the Iron March data and other research. + +Mr. [[Michael Berry]], General Counsel of the [[First Liberty Institute]], testified primarily on First Amendment concerns around enforcement of extremism policies. + +The hearing record included the 2020 Pentagon report's cited transcript of Brandon Russell bragging on Iron March about sharing white supremacist views with fellow service members during National Guard training. + +### Policy Changes + +Following the stand-down and CEAWG report, the DoD issued updated guidance in December 2021 revising [[DoD Instruction 1325.06]], which governs handling of protest, extremist, and criminal gang activities among service members. The update broadened the definition of prohibited extremist activities and established clearer procedures for reporting and investigating allegations. It also formalized partnerships with the FBI for security clearance screening and tattoo/imagery review. The full scope of implementation across services remained inconsistent through subsequent IG audits.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: NPR. "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Signs Military 'Stand Down' Memo To Address Extremism." February 6, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/06/964828770/defense-secretary-lloyd-austin-signs-military-stand-down-memo-to-address-extremi + +[^2]: DoD Memorandum. "Stand-Down to Address Extremism in the Ranks." February 5, 2021. https://media.defense.gov/2021/Feb/05/2002577485/-1/-1/0/STAND-DOWN-TO-ADDRESS-EXTREMISM-IN-THE-RANKS.PDF + +[^3]: Military Times. "Defense Secretary Orders 60-Day Stand-Down to Confront Extremism in the Military." February 3, 2021. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2021/02/03/defense-secretary-orders-60-day-stand-down-to-confront-extremism-in-the-military/ + +[^4]: DoD, Countering Extremist Activity Working Group. "Report on Countering Extremist Activity Within the Department of Defense." December 20, 2021. https://media.defense.gov/2021/Dec/20/2002912573/-1/-1/0/REPORT-ON-COUNTERING-EXTREMIST-ACTIVITY-WITHIN-THE-DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE.PDF + +[^5]: Roll Call. "Pentagon Report Reveals Inroads White Supremacists Have Made in Military." February 16, 2021. https://rollcall.com/2021/02/16/pentagon-report-reveals-inroads-white-supremacists-have-made-in-military/; NBC News. "Pentagon Report Warns of Threat from White Supremacists Inside the Military." February 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/pentagon-report-warns-threat-white-supremacists-inside-military-n1258871 + +[^6]: DoD IG. "Department of Defense Progress on Implementing Fiscal Year 2021 NDAA Section 554 Requirements Involving Prohibited Activities of Covered Armed Forces." DODIG-2022-042. December 2, 2021. https://www.dodig.mil/reports.html/Article/2858895/department-of-defense-progress-on-implementing-fiscal-year-2021-ndaa-section-55/; DoD IG. "Evaluation of Department of Defense Efforts to Address Ideological Extremism Within the Armed Forces." DODIG-2022-095. May 12, 2022. https://www.dodig.mil/reports.html/article/3028919/evaluation-of-department-of-defense-efforts-to-address-ideological-extremism-wi/ + +[^7]: Congress.gov. "Extremism in the Armed Forces, H.A.S.C. No. 117-14." March 24, 2021. https://www.congress.gov/event/117th-congress/house-event/LC67998/text; GovInfo. CHRG-117hhrg45011. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CHRG-117hhrg45011; American University. "Audrey Kurth Cronin Testifies Before HASC on Extremism in the Armed Forces." https://www.american.edu/sis/centers/security-technology/audrey_kurth_cronin_testifies_before_a_full_hearing_of_the_house_armed_service_committee_on_extremism_in-the_armed_forces.cfm diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/Operation Bergon.md b/40 - EVENTS/Operation Bergon.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a8a228e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/Operation Bergon.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - Brazil + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - ICE + - LawEnforcement + - ICEHSI +date: 2021-12-16 +location: "Seven Brazilian states (RJ, MG, SP, PR, SC, RS, RN)" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Operation Bergon was a December 2021 joint operation between US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations and Brazilian federal authorities that executed 31 search warrants and four arrests across seven Brazilian states, disrupting neo-Nazi cells planning mass casualty attacks including a planned bombing of the Angra dos Reis nuclear power plant." +--- + +Operation Bergon was a joint law enforcement operation conducted on December 16, 2021, by [[US Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] Homeland Security Investigations ([[ICE HSI]]) and the [[Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security]] (MJSP), targeting neo-Nazi cells operating on US-based online platforms and planning mass casualty attacks against Jewish and Black civilians, schools, and critical infrastructure in Brazil. The operation resulted in 31 search warrants executed simultaneously across seven Brazilian states and four arrests, with homemade explosives, weapons, and attack planning materials seized.[^1] + +### Investigation Background + +The investigation originated in May 2021 when ICE HSI identified criminal neo-Nazi groups using US-based online platforms to coordinate violence and recruit members in Brazil. Between May and November 2021, HSI passed a series of investigative leads to the MJSP Secretariat for Integrated Operations' [[Cyber Laboratory]]. The Cyber Laboratory coordinated with state police and prosecutors' offices across the seven affected states (Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, and Rio Grande do Norte) in advance of the simultaneous December 16 execution of warrants.[^1] + +### The December 2021 Operation + +On December 16, 2021, Brazilian state police and prosecutors across seven states executed 31 search warrants and four arrest warrants. Evidence seized included homemade explosives, conventional weapons, Nazi paraphernalia, and detailed plans for future attacks. One named suspect, identified publicly as Matheus Hades NS, a 43-year-old security guard from [[Campinas]], Sao Paulo, was alleged to have attempted to recruit young people to bomb the [[Angra dos Reis]] nuclear power plant, located in the Rio de Janeiro state coastal area. Matheus Hades NS reportedly stated his intent to "kill and then commit suicide." Other individuals in the cells were planning attacks against public areas including schools, as well as hate crimes against Jewish and Black civilians. One perpetrator intended to use explosives at a New Year's Eve celebration in Sao Paulo state.[^1][^2] + +### US-Brazil Cooperation Framework + +Operation Bergon is the most documented instance of pre-2022 US-Brazil law enforcement cooperation specifically targeting neo-Nazi accelerationist networks, predating the wave of Brazilian school attacks that began with the [[2022 Aracruz School Shootings]] by approximately eleven months. The ICE HSI role was to identify online activity on US-hosted platforms and pass leads to Brazilian counterparts; the arrest and search warrant execution authority remained with Brazilian state and federal agencies. The operational model, in which HSI served as an intelligence-sharing partner rather than a direct enforcement actor, mirrors the framework ICE HSI has used in similar operations in other Latin American countries.[^1] + +No public record of prosecution outcomes for the four arrested individuals has appeared in English-language sources as of mid-2026. Whether Matheus Hades NS was formally charged and tried in Brazilian courts is not established in the public record. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ICE HSI. "Brazil, ICE HSI investigation prevents a neo-Nazi group's planned mass casualty attack on New Year's Eve." Press release. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/brazil-ice-hsi-investigation-prevents-neo-nazi-groups-planned-mass-casualty-attack + +[^2]: HSToday. "ICE HSI, Brazilian Police Stop Neo-Nazi Plans for New Year's Eve Mass-Casualty Attack." https://www.hstoday.us/federal-pages/dhs/ice-hsi-brazilian-police-stop-neo-nazi-plans-for-new-years-eve-mass-casualty-attack/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/Operation Jorica.md b/40 - EVENTS/Operation Jorica.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fcacfde4 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/Operation Jorica.md @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - MetropolitanPolice + - VettingFailure + - UK + - PoliceMisconduct + - PoliceUpliftProgramme + - OperationJorica +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Operation Jorica was a Metropolitan Police internal review of vetting and hiring practices covering the ten years prior to April 2023, published in January 2026, which found that nearly 90 per cent of 5,073 recruits examined had not been subjected to special branch counter-terrorism screening during the Police Uplift Programme recruitment period." +--- + +Operation Jorica was an internal [[Metropolitan Police Service]] review of vetting and hiring practices examining the decade prior to April 2023. Its report was published in January 2026 and presented to the [[London Assembly]] Police and Crime Committee. The review was initiated by Commissioner [[Mark Rowley]] following a series of high-profile misconduct and criminal convictions involving serving Metropolitan Police officers, including the conviction and imprisonment of [[Wayne Couzens]] for the murder of [[Sarah Everard]] in 2021 and the conviction of [[David Carrick]] in 2023. + +### Scope and Methodology + +The review examined the vetting records of 5,073 recruits who joined the Metropolitan Police during the ten-year period ending April 2023. This covered the entirety of the national [[Police Uplift Programme]] (PUP), which ran from July 2019 with the aim of adding 20,000 officers across England and Wales by March 2023. The Metropolitan Police's PUP target was 4,557 additional officers, creating significant pressure on the vetting unit's throughput capacity during the programme's peak years of 2020 to 2022.[^1] + +### Key Findings + +The most operationally significant finding was that nearly 90 per cent of the 5,073 recruits reviewed had not been subjected to special branch counter-terrorism screening as part of their vetting. The review attributed this gap to the pace and scale of recruitment under the PUP, combined with pressures to improve workforce diversity and respond to rising violent crime in London. These pressures led, in the review's language, to "deviations from national vetting guidance and police regulations."[^2] + +The review also found that 505 individuals had been refused jobs as a result of the vetting process but that 114 of those refusal decisions had been overruled by a diversity panel. + +Of the recruits who remained with the force after the review, 39 required full re-vetting. Eight of that group were referred into the [[Police (Vetting) Regulations 2025]] process, which can result in removal of vetting clearance and dismissal.[^3] + +### Hannam Vetting Failure + +The Hannam vetting failure in 2017 pre-dates the PUP period reviewed by Operation Jorica but is directly relevant to its findings. [[Benjamin Hannam]] applied to join the Metropolitan Police on 19 July 2017 and subsequently passed vetting despite being a member of [[National Action]], a proscribed terrorist organisation. The vetting unit did not seek a school reference, and the [[Iron March]] forum database that would have established his extremist online activity was not publicly available until November 2019. The [[HMICFRS]] thematic inspection published in 2022 and the Operation Jorica review together represent the institutional post-mortem on the vetting conditions that allowed Hannam's employment.[^4] + +### Institutional Response + +The Metropolitan Police response to Operation Jorica included the implementation of the Police (Vetting) Regulations 2025 across all force vetting decisions, investment in technology-assisted vetting tools, and re-vetting of all officers identified through the review as having received clearance under the weakened procedures documented. The force described the period covered as producing "the biggest clear-out in the force's history," with more than 1,500 officers and staff exited over the three years preceding the report's publication on grounds of falling short of conduct standards.[^5] + +The London Assembly Police and Crime Committee received the Operation Jorica report in January 2026 as a formal agenda item (document reference 06a). The Assembly's formal written questions to the Mayor on Met officers and banned far-right groups, raised in April 2021 following the Hannam conviction, were an earlier iteration of the same accountability mechanism.[^6] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Metropolitan Police. "Operation Jorica Report." London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, January 2026. https://www.london.gov.uk/moderngovmb/documents/s84725/06a%20-%20MPS%20Operation_Jorica_Report%20-%20January_2026.pdf + +[^2]: Emergency Services Times. "Rapid recruitment drive weakened vetting checks, Met review finds." 9 January 2026. https://emergencyservicestimes.com/2026/01/09/rapid-recruitment-drive-weakened-vetting-checks-met-review-finds/ + +[^3]: Metropolitan Police. "Met continues drive to raise standards following historical vetting review." January 2026. https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-continues-drive-to-raise-standards-following-historical-vetting-review-504908 + +[^4]: HMICFRS. "An inspection of vetting, misconduct, and misogyny in the police service." 2022. https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/publication-html/an-inspection-of-vetting-misconduct-and-misogyny-in-the-police-service/ + +[^5]: Metropolitan Police. "Met continues drive to raise standards following historical vetting review." January 2026. + +[^6]: London Assembly. "Met Police Officers and Banned Far-Right Groups (1)." 2021. https://london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/met-police-officers-and-banned-far-right-groups-1 diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/Operation Kristallnacht (The Base).md b/40 - EVENTS/Operation Kristallnacht (The Base).md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f62d5a84 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/Operation Kristallnacht (The Base).md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - TheBase + - NeoNazi + - FederalCase + - HateCrime + - USA + - ConspiracyAgainstRights +summary: "Operation Kristallnacht was a September 2019 coordinated campaign organized through The Base's online channels by Richard Tobin that directed members to vandalize synagogues across the United States, resulting in federal civil rights convictions in New Jersey and Wisconsin." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2019-09-13 +end: 2019-09-21 +location: "United States (New Jersey organized; Wisconsin, Michigan executed)" +--- + +Operation Kristallnacht was a coordinated vandalism campaign organized through [[The Base]]'s online channels during September 13-21, 2019, named after the Nazi pogrom of November 9-10, 1938. [[Richard Tobin]], a New Jersey resident, used The Base's encrypted group chats to recruit and direct members to spray-paint antisemitic graffiti, swastikas, and The Base's symbol on synagogues in multiple U.S. states.[^1] + +### Organization and Execution + +From September 13 through 21, 2019, Tobin and other Base members communicated through online channels about targeting synagogues and threatening Black and Jewish communities. Participants agreed through these channels to vandalize Jewish houses of worship as a coordinated act of intimidation. The campaign was explicitly framed within The Base's accelerationist ideology as a direct invocation of Nazi Germany. + +[[Yousef O. Barasneh]], 22, of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, traveled to Beth Israel Sinai Congregation in [[Racine, Wisconsin]], on September 21, 2019, and spray-painted antisemitic language, a swastika, and The Base's symbol on the building's exterior. A separate vandalism occurred at a [[Michigan]] synagogue, [[Temple Jacob]] in [[Hancock, Michigan]], for which another perpetrator was convicted of a federal hate crime. + +### Federal Prosecutions + +Barasneh was arrested January 17, 2020, and charged in the [[Eastern District of Wisconsin]] with conspiring to violate citizens' rights to use property free from threats and intimidation under 18 U.S.C. § 241, case 2:20-cr-00026. He pleaded guilty August 12, 2020, and received a sentence of two months probation.[^2] + +Tobin was charged federally in [[New Jersey]] with conspiracy against rights for organizing the campaign. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on November 16, 2021, to one year and one day in federal prison plus three years of supervised release. Prosecutors described him as the campaign's director, who had coordinated the nationwide effort through Base channels.[^3] + +### Nazi Historical Reference + +Tobin's use of the name "Operation Kristallnacht" in Base communications was documented in prosecution materials and described by The Forward and other outlets. The name choice reflected The Base's explicit embrace of Nazi historical symbolism and its effort to frame vandalism as the first stage in an accelerationist escalation campaign modeled on historical Nazi violence. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: The Forward, "'The Base' called synagogue vandalism 'Kristallnacht,'" 2020. https://forward.com/news/453870/synagogue-vandal-in-racine-wis-called-it-operation-kristallnacht/ + +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of Wisconsin, "Oak Creek Man Who Vandalized Racine Synagogue Pleads Guilty," August 2020. United States v. Barasneh, 2:20-cr-00026 (E.D. Wis.). https://www.justice.gov/usao-edwi/pr/oak-creek-man-who-vandalized-racine-synagogue-pleads-guilty + +[^3]: Daily Voice, "NJ Neo-Nazi Gets Year, Day For Masterminding Nationwide 'Kristallnacht' Attack On Blacks, Jews," November 2021; Upper Michigan's Source, "New Jersey man sentenced to prison for directing vandalism of Temple Jacob in Hancock," November 18, 2021. https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2021/11/18/new-jersey-man-sentenced-prison-directing-vandalism-temple-jacob-hancock/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/Post-Terrorgram Accelerationist Platform Migration.md b/40 - EVENTS/Post-Terrorgram Accelerationist Platform Migration.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b380fd5a --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/Post-Terrorgram Accelerationist Platform Migration.md @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +--- +category: "Modern Incident" +tags: + - Concept + - Accelerationism + - Telegram + - PlatformMigration + - NeoNazi + - InfrastructureAdaptation + - PostTerrorgram +start: 2024 +location: "Online (global)" +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Post-Terrorgram Accelerationist Platform Migration describes the documented shift in neo-Nazi accelerationist network infrastructure following Pavel Durov's arrest in August 2024 and the September 2024 Terrorgram Collective federal indictment unsealing, which prompted accelerationist channels to migrate toward encrypted decentralized platforms and persistent web forums." +--- + +Post-Terrorgram Accelerationist Platform Migration describes the documented shift in neo-Nazi accelerationist network infrastructure following two events in 2024: the arrest of [[Telegram]] CEO [[Pavel Durov]] in [[France]] on August 24, 2024, which prompted Telegram to announce cooperation with law enforcement regarding illegal content on the platform; and the September 2024 U.S. federal indictment unsealing in the [[Terrorgram Collective]] case (case 2:24-cr-00257, [[Eastern District of California]]). The [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]] (ISD), the [[Counter Extremism Project]] (CEP), and [[ProPublica]] all independently documented accelerationist Telegram channels discussing the need for platform migration in the immediate aftermath of these events. + +### Telegram Cooperation Shift (August-September 2024) + +Following Durov's arrest on August 24, 2024, Telegram publicly acknowledged that criminals had abused the platform and announced that it would begin sharing the IP addresses and phone numbers of users who violate platform rules "in response to valid legal requests." Durov's statement represented a significant departure from Telegram's prior posture of non-cooperation with law enforcement regarding content. + +ISD analysts monitoring neo-Nazi accelerationist channels in this period found that a large number of groups immediately began posting about the need to migrate to alternative platforms. A neo-Nazi [[OPSEC]] channel that ISD monitored noted that the Terrorgram Collective designation was "another example" of why the white supremacist online community needed an alternative to Telegram offering better encryption and security. The [[Counter Extremism Project]] published contemporaneous documentation of channels advising members on how to avoid detection and migrate infrastructure.[^1][^2] + +### The September 2024 Migration Wave + +ISD documented that following the Durov arrest and the Terrorgram indictment unsealing, a large number of neo-Nazi accelerationist groups began migrating to a new decentralized, encrypted platform, which ISD declined to name in its published reporting to avoid amplification. ISD described the platform's distinguishing features: end-to-end encryption activated by default for all messages, and being, in its own marketing, "the first chat platform that circumvents the need for user IDs," assigning no unique identifiers to users. ISD characterized using it as analogous to "having a different burner email or phone for each contact, and no hassle to manage them." + +ISD observed that during a single 24-hour period on September 25, 2024, three instances of users in channels assessed by ISD called for the assassination of then-Vice President [[Kamala Harris]], and one instance called for the assassination of former President [[Donald Trump]]. Multiple users called for a race war framed as a precursor to seizing the United States by force.[^3] + +### What Moved Where + +Documented accelerationist infrastructure that emerged or adapted in this period: + +[[FashFront]], a persistent web forum launched in mid-2025 at fashfront.st, represents the most significant new organizational infrastructure, deliberately modeling itself on [[Iron March]] and operating outside Telegram. FashFront combines forum-style networking with a companion Telegram channel and [[Odysee]] video distribution. + +ProPublica and PBS FRONTLINE documented that Terrorgram's content, once distributed, proved impossible to fully remove from the broader accelerationist ecosystem. Legacy publications including *[[The Hard Reset]]*, *[[Militant Accelerationism: A Collective Handbook]]*, and *Do It For The Gram* continued to circulate on Telegram channels, archived platforms, and file-sharing services regardless of the status of the Terrorgram Collective as an organization.[^4] + +The [[Decoherence Media]] outlet's 2025 compilation of the Iron March database through its [[FashyLeaks]] interface represented a separate infrastructure development: the systematic archiving and cross-referencing of historical accelerationist forum memberships enabled current-generation forums like FashFront to identify and recruit former Iron March and [[Fascist Forge]] users.[^5] + +### Channels That Migrated vs. Those Taken Down + +[[ISD]] noted that much of the activity on the unnamed migration platform "revolved around resurrecting legacy documents and artwork from neo-Nazi accelerationists such as the Terrorgram Collective and other groups." The pattern was consistent with prior post-deplatforming behavior: migrate the archive, rebuild the community around shared historical artifacts. + +Accelerationist channels that advised migration to alternatives mentioned in press reporting included [[Signal]] (dismissed by some users as potentially monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies), [[Briar]] (a peer-to-peer encrypted messenger), and [[Session]] (a decentralized messenger). The ISD-documented unnamed platform's specific description (no user IDs, default end-to-end encryption) is consistent with SimpleX Chat, which launched its user-ID-free design as a flagship security feature in this period; ISD did not confirm or deny this identification. + +No systematic law enforcement deplatforming operation targeting post-Terrorgram successor infrastructure has been publicly announced as of May 2026. The [[Tech Against Terrorism]] knowledge-sharing database continues to circulate identified accelerationist content hashes to member platforms, but the decentralized nature of the migration makes systematic takedown substantially harder than the Telegram channel-takedown paradigm that was used against centralized Terrorgram infrastructure.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ISD Global. "Dismantling Digital Terror: Lessons Learned from the Collapse of Terrorgram." 2024. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/dismantling-digital-terror-lessons-learned-from-the-collapse-of-terrorgram/; Counter Extremism Project. "Extremist Content Online: White Supremacist Telegram Channels Identify Need for Alternative Platform After State Department's Terrorgram Collective Designation." 2025. https://www.counterextremism.com/press/extremist-content-online-white-supremacist-telegram-channels-identify-need-alternative +[^2]: ISD Global. "Neo-Nazi accelerationists seek new digital refuge amid looming Telegram crackdown." September 2024. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/neo-nazi-accelerationists-seek-new-digital-refuge-amid-looming-telegram-crackdown/ +[^3]: ISD Global. "Neo-Nazi accelerationists seek new digital refuge amid looming Telegram crackdown." September 2024. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/neo-nazi-accelerationists-seek-new-digital-refuge-amid-looming-telegram-crackdown/ +[^4]: ProPublica / PBS FRONTLINE. "After Downfall, Terrorgram Still Inspires Violence." April 18, 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-assassionation-plot-nikita-casap-terrorgram-wisconsin-frontline +[^5]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "New Neo-Nazi Web Forum 'Fash Front' Reinvigorating Violent Accelerationist Movement." 2025. https://globalextremism.org/post/fash-front/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/Project Compass.md b/40 - EVENTS/Project Compass.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..363a7677 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/Project Compass.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - LawEnforcement + - Europol + - TheComNetwork + - NVE + - International + - ChildExploitation +start: 2025 +location: "International (Europol ECTC)" +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Project Compass is a Europol-coordinated 28-country law enforcement operation against the Com network and its 764 subgroup, launched in January 2025, that by February 2026 had produced 30 arrests and identified 179 perpetrators." +--- + +[[Project Compass]] is a coordinated law enforcement operation led by [[Europol]]'s [[European Counter Terrorism Centre]] (ECTC) targeting [[The Com]] and its subgroup [[764 Network|764]], launched in January 2025. As of its first formal operational results announcement on February 27, 2026, the operation had resulted in 30 arrests, the identification of 179 perpetrators, the identification of 62 victims, and the direct safeguarding of 4 victims across 28 participating countries. Project Compass is the largest coordinated multinational law enforcement operation targeting the Com network documented in public reporting.[^1] + +### Scope and Structure + +Project Compass is structured as an ongoing operational framework rather than a single coordinated raid, producing rolling arrests across participating countries as individual investigations mature. The 28 participating countries include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and multiple European Union member states. The operation is coordinated through Europol's ECTC, which provides intelligence analysis, secure information sharing, and operational coordination for national law enforcement agencies. + +The operation targets the full Com ecosystem including [[The Com]] network's three operational pillars (cybercrime, sextortion, and offline violence), 764 and its [[764 Inferno|Inferno]] inner cell, and related splinter networks including [[No Lives Matter]], [[Kaskar]], and other documented Com subgroups.[^2] + +### Documented Arrests + +Among the individuals arrested in connection with Project Compass or in concurrent national operations coordinated through Europol: + +- [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] (21, alleged 764 Inferno leader) - arrested Greece April 2025 +- [[Prasan Nepal]] (20, alleged 764 Inferno leader) - arrested North Carolina April 2025 +- [[Tony Christopher Long]] - indicted Eastern District of California October 2025 +- [[Alexis Aldair Chavez]] - federal plea to RICO charges December 2025 +- [[Jeffrey Roussel]] - charged Quebec City April 2026 + +Additional arrests in the United States and internationally were announced as part of the February 2026 results without naming individual defendants.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Europol. "Project Compass: First operational results against Com network." February 27, 2026. https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/project-compass-first-operational-results-against-com-network; BleepingComputer. "Police crackdown on The Com cybercrime gang leads to 30 arrests." https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/police-crackdown-on-the-com-cybercrime-gang-leads-to-30-arrests/ +[^2]: CyberScoop. "Project Compass: Europol's sustained campaign against The Com." https://cyberscoop.com/project-compass-the-com-europol/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/U.S. Government Designations of Accelerationist-Russia Nexus.md b/40 - EVENTS/U.S. Government Designations of Accelerationist-Russia Nexus.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ff8e72ca --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/U.S. Government Designations of Accelerationist-Russia Nexus.md @@ -0,0 +1,69 @@ +--- +category: "Intelligence Scandal" +tags: + - Event + - USGovernment + - Russia + - SDGTDesignation + - OFAC + - StateDepartment + - ODNI + - AcceleratoristNetwork + - WhiteSupremacy + - RussianImperialMovement + - TheBase + - TerroristDesignation +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "U.S. government formal actions identifying the Russian state-adjacent accelerationist nexus span 2020-2025 and include the State Department's first-ever white supremacist SDGT designation (Russian Imperial Movement, April 2020), ODNI's 2021 DVE assessment acknowledging transnational white supremacist connections, and the 2025 FTO debate over The Base." +--- + +This page catalogs the U.S. government's official formal actions documenting the nexus between Russian-based or Russian-adjacent actors and the accelerationist network. It draws on publicly released primary documents. It excludes analytical assertions from non-governmental researchers, which are documented elsewhere (e.g., the [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]] and [[Russian Imperial Movement]] pages). + +### State Department: Russian Imperial Movement SDGT Designation (April 7, 2020) + +On April 7, 2020, the [[U.S. Department of State]] designated [[Russian Imperial Movement]] (RIM), its founder [[Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev]], Imperial Legion commander [[Denis Valiullovich Gariev]], and external relations coordinator [[Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov]] as [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]] entities under [[Executive Order 13224]], as amended by [[Executive Order 13886]]. + +This was the first time in U.S. history that the State Department had designated a white supremacist organization as a terrorist entity. Counterterrorism Coordinator Ambassador [[Nathan Sales]] explained at a press briefing that the designation was premised on RIM "providing training for acts of terrorism" through its [[Partizan]] training camp, specifically citing the case of two [[Nordic Resistance Movement]] members from [[Sweden]] who attended Partizan in 2016 and subsequently carried out bombings in Gothenburg in January 2017. The Swedish court proceedings and the Swedish prosecutor's explicit attribution of the bombing skills to the Partizan training formed the factual record for the designation. + +Legal authority: E.O. 13224, Section 1(b), blocking property of persons who have "committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism" or who "assist in, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or technological support for" or "services to or in support of" such acts. Gariev's individual designation was published in the Federal Register, 85 FR 20803-20804 (April 14, 2020). + +The designation triggers asset-freezing and transaction-prohibition consequences under U.S. law for any person who knowingly provides material support to RIM or its designated leaders. It does not constitute a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation, which would trigger the additional criminal prohibition on material support under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B; SDGT designation under E.O. 13224 is a civil regulatory action, not a criminal statute.[^1] + +### Treasury/OFAC: Supplemental RIM Designation (June 15, 2022) + +On June 15, 2022, the [[U.S. Department of the Treasury]]'s [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) designated two additional supporters of RIM as SDGTs under E.O. 13224. The Treasury press release (jy0817) documented the action. The identities of the two individuals named have not been independently confirmed from the OFAC SDN list for this entry; the OFAC website (home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0817) and the SDN list search tool (sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov) are the authoritative records.[^2] + +### ODNI: Domestic Violent Extremism Assessment (March 17, 2021) + +On March 17, 2021, the [[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]] (ODNI), the [[Department of Justice]], and the [[Department of Homeland Security]] jointly released an unclassified summary of the intelligence community's assessment of domestic violent extremism, titled "Domestic Violent Extremism Poses Heightened Threat in 2021." + +The unclassified summary identified white supremacist extremists as the domestic violent extremist (DVE) actors with "the most persistent and concerning transnational connections" because of "like-minded individuals" existing outside the United States, and noted that "a small number" of racially or ethnically motivated extremists had "traveled abroad to network." The summary did not name specific organizations (RIM, [[The Base]], [[Atomwaffen Division]]) or Russia by name in the released unclassified text. + +The document was the first ODNI threat assessment to include domestic violent extremism as a formal category. Classified versions were briefed to congressional oversight committees (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence). The unclassified summary is available at: https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/UnclassSummaryofDVEAssessment-17MAR21.pdf[^3] + +### House Homeland Security Subcommittee Hearing (July 16, 2020) + +The [[House Committee on Homeland Security]] Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism held a hearing titled "Assessing the Threat from Accelerationists and Militia Extremists" on July 16, 2020 (116th Congress, CHRG-116hhrg43866). Witnesses included JJ MacNab (GWU Program on Extremism), [[Heidi Beirich]] (GPAHE), and John Donohue (Rutgers Miller Center). The Base and Atomwaffen Division were covered as accelerationist threats. The hearing transcript, available at govinfo.gov, does not in its open portions designate Russia as a state sponsor, though analysts in the witness testimony noted The Base's Russian-resident leadership as a structural concern.[^4] + +### Federal Prosecutors: "Russian Government" Framing (December 2019) + +In a December 2019 detention hearing in the Eastern District of Maryland related to [[Patrik Jordan Mathews]] and other Base members, federal prosecutors stated in open court that the Russian government was "actively using highly trained U.S. neo-Nazis and white supremacists to stoke racial and social division." This was not a formally released intelligence assessment or designated finding, but it represents on-record government attorney characterization of The Base's Russian context in a federal courtroom.[^5] + +### Just Security: FTO Designation Argument (2025) + +Following the claimed assassination of [[SBU]] Colonel [[Ivan Voronych]] by [[The Base]]'s Ukrainian cell ([[White Phoenix]]) in July 2025, the legal analysis website Just Security published an argument that The Base now qualifies for designation as a [[Foreign Terrorist Organization]] under Section 219 of the [[Immigration and Nationality Act]]. The argument turns on whether The Base's foreign nexus (Nazzaro's Russian citizenship, Russian platform use, foreign cells conducting targeted killings) satisfies the INA's "foreign organization" requirement. As of May 2026, the State Department has not made this designation.[^6] + +### What Has Not Been Officially Released + +As of May 2026, no U.S. government agency has publicly released a declassified assessment definitively attributing direct Russian state direction (as opposed to state toleration) to accelerationist network operations. The pattern of official action has been to designate RIM as a terrorist entity (SDGT), to acknowledge white supremacist transnational connections in IC products, and to use courts to prosecute individual members, but not to issue a formal intelligence community judgment equivalent to the 2017 ICA on Russian election interference that names the accelerationist-Russia nexus as a directed state operation.[^7] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of State. "The U.S. Department of State's Designation of the Russian Imperial Movement and its Leaders as Global Terrorists." April 7, 2020. https://2017-2021.state.gov/the-u-s-department-of-states-designation-of-the-russian-imperial-movement-and-its-leaders-as-global-terrorists/index.html; Federal Register. 85 FR 20803-20804. April 14, 2020. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/04/14/2020-07857/designation-of-denis-valiullovich-gariyev-as-a-specially-designated-global-terrorist +[^2]: U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC. Press release jy0817. "U.S. Sanctions Members of Russian Violent Extremist Group." June 15, 2022. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0817; OFAC SDN list search: https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=28703 +[^3]: ODNI / DOJ / DHS. "Domestic Violent Extremism Poses Heightened Threat in 2021." Unclassified Summary. March 17, 2021. https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/UnclassSummaryofDVEAssessment-17MAR21.pdf +[^4]: GovInfo. House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism. "Assessing the Threat from Accelerationists and Militia Extremists." July 16, 2020. CHRG-116hhrg43866. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-116hhrg43866/html/CHRG-116hhrg43866.htm +[^5]: Facing South. "Far-right accelerationists hope to spark the next U.S. civil war." February 2021 (citing December 2019 detention hearing). https://www.facingsouth.org/2021/02/far-right-accelerationists-hope-spark-next-us-civil-war +[^6]: Just Security. "It's Time to Designate The Base as an FTO." 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/118427/designate-base-fto/ +[^7]: Soufan Center. "Russia's Links to Neo-Nazi Terrorist Groups Demonstrates its Hybrid Warfare Toolkit." May 8, 2025. https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2025-may-8/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Hasbajrami.md b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Hasbajrami.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5918591e --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Hasbajrami.md @@ -0,0 +1,55 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - LegalCase + - FISA + - Section702 + - FourthAmendment + - BackdoorSearch + - ACLU + - SecondCircuit + - EasternDistrictNewYork + - Terrorism + - Surveillance + - CivilLiberties +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "United States v. Hasbajrami is the federal prosecution that produced the first judicial rulings requiring a warrant for Section 702 backdoor searches of Americans' communications, with the Second Circuit's 2019 decision and the district court's 2025 ruling establishing the leading Fourth Amendment framework for FISA database querying." +--- + +United States v. Hasbajrami is a federal prosecution in the [[Eastern District of New York]] that has, over more than a decade of constitutional litigation, produced the two most significant judicial rulings on whether "backdoor searches" of [[Section 702]] databases require a Fourth Amendment warrant. The case is the principal litigation vehicle through which the [[American Civil Liberties Union]]'s [[ACLU National Security Project]] has pressed the warrant requirement argument, and the January 2025 district court ruling in the case was the first federal ruling to impose a warrant requirement on warrantless U.S. person queries of [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] Section 702 data. + +### The Prosecution + +[[Agron Hasbajrami]], a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was arrested on September 6, 2011, attempting to board a flight from [[JFK Airport]] to Turkey en route to Pakistan. He was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He pleaded guilty in 2012 and was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison. + +### FISA Disclosure and Litigation Origins + +While Hasbajrami was serving his sentence, prosecutors disclosed that some evidence they would have introduced at trial was acquired through FISA orders predicated on information the government collected under Section 702, and later retrieved through queries of the collected data. The disclosure triggered a legal challenge: Hasbajrami argued that the use of this material, and specifically the querying of Section 702 databases using his U.S. person identifier, violated the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches without a warrant. + +### Second Circuit, 2019 + +On December 18, 2019, the [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] issued its decision in United States v. Hasbajrami, 945 F.3d 641. Judge [[Gerard Lynch]], writing for a unanimous panel, ruled that Section 702 collection of the communications of a U.S. person's foreign contacts was permissible as incidental collection. However, the court also held that querying the resulting databases using a U.S. person identifier constitutes a "separate Fourth Amendment event" from the initial collection, and must independently comport with the Fourth Amendment. The Second Circuit remanded to the district court to determine whether a warrant was required for the specific queries at issue.[^1] + +The ruling rejected the government's argument that the "foreign intelligence exception" to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement justified warrantless U.S. person queries of Section 702 databases. The court declined to find a categorical exemption, requiring instead a case-specific Fourth Amendment analysis. + +### District Court Ruling, January 2025 + +Following the Second Circuit remand, the district court conducted an in camera review and eventually issued its ruling in declassified form on January 21, 2025. The court held that warrantless queries of Section 702 databases using U.S. person identifiers violated the Fourth Amendment and required a warrant. The decision was the first federal ruling to impose this requirement. The court rejected the government's argument that the "foreign intelligence exception" could justify warrantless querying of data already in government databases, and found that the querying constituted a Fourth Amendment search requiring a warrant absent exigent circumstances or another recognized exception.[^2] + +The ACLU, through senior staff attorney [[Ashley Gorski]], characterized the ruling as a significant victory: "For more than a decade, the government has argued that it should be able to warrantlessly search through a database containing Americans' private communications, just because the government called it a 'foreign intelligence' database. Today's ruling rejects that position." + +### The Russell Challenge and Fourth Circuit Gap + +The Hasbajrami framework was directly relevant to the Section 702 challenge raised in [[United States v. Russell, 1:23-cr-00029 (D. Md.)]]. Russell's defense team, joined by the ACLU, argued that Section 702 backdoor searches had initiated the investigation. [[James K. Bredar|Senior U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar]]'s August 2024 ruling in that case resolved only whether Section 702 evidence would be used at trial, not whether Section 702 collection had occurred at an investigative stage, leaving the Hasbajrami framework's application to domestic extremism cases unresolved.[^3] + +The Hasbajrami district court's January 2025 ruling, issued after Bredar's August 2024 order but before Russell's February 2025 conviction, did not constitute binding precedent in the Fourth Circuit, which encompasses the District of Maryland. No Fourth Circuit decision on the warrant requirement for Section 702 queries had issued as of mid-2026. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: United States v. Hasbajrami, 945 F.3d 641 (2d Cir. Dec. 18, 2019). Lawfare analysis: "The Second Circuit Rules in United States v. Hasbajrami," https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/second-circuit-rules-united-states-v-hasbajrami; Just Security analysis: https://www.justsecurity.org/60505/happened-court-hasbajrami-oral-argument-section-702-fisa-fourth-amendment/ + +[^2]: United States v. Hasbajrami, 11-cr-00623-LDH (E.D.N.Y.), Memorandum and Order (declassified Jan. 21, 2025). ACLU press release: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/court-rules-warrantless-section-702-searches-violated-the-fourth-amendment; ACLU court document: https://www.aclu.org/documents/section-702-memorandum-and-order-u-s-v-hasbajrami-11-cr-00623-ldh; EFF analysis: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/victory-federal-court-finally-rules-backdoor-searches-702-data-unconstitutional + +[^3]: Baltimore Sun, August 9, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/08/09/feds-evidence-spying-program-neo-nazi-accused-baltimore-power-grid-plot/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Humber.md b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Humber.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2aae72fa --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Humber.md @@ -0,0 +1,55 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - FederalCase + - TerrorgramCollective + - NeoNazi + - Accelerationism + - EasternDistrictCalifornia + - USA + - MaterialSupport + - DomesticTerrorism +summary: "United States v. Humber (2:24-cr-00257, E.D. Cal.) is the primary U.S. federal prosecution of the Terrorgram Collective's inner leadership, charging Dallas Humber and Matthew Robert Allison on 15 counts including conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists under 18 U.S.C. 2339A, resulting in Humber's 30-year sentence in December 2025." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +--- + +[[United States v. Humber]], case number 2:24-cr-00257 in the [[Eastern District of California]], is the primary U.S. federal prosecution arising from the [[Terrorgram Collective]] investigation. The case charged [[Dallas Humber]] of [[Elk Grove, California]] and [[Matthew Robert Allison]] of [[Boise, Idaho]] in a 15-count indictment filed September 5, 2024, and unsealed September 9, 2024. It is notable as one of the most significant applications of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A (material support to terrorists) to an online white-supremacist content network and produced the longest sentence (30 years) imposed on any Terrorgram defendant globally.[^1] + +### Indictment + +The 37-page indictment was filed in the Sacramento Division of the Eastern District of California. The charges: + +Count 1 - Conspiracy. Counts 2-5 - Soliciting hate crimes (four separate acts targeting individuals on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 249). Counts 6-8 - Soliciting the murder of federal officials (three named or identified federal officials appearing on "The List" hit-list publication). Counts 9-11 - Doxing federal officials (publishing private identifying information with intent to threaten). Count 12 - Interstate threatening communications, 18 U.S.C. § 875. Counts 13-14 - Distribution of information relating to explosives and destructive devices, 18 U.S.C. § 842(p). Count 15 - Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, 18 U.S.C. § 2339A. + +Maximum cumulative sentence across all counts: 220 years per defendant. + +The prosecution was a joint effort by DOJ's [[Civil Rights Division]], [[National Security Division]] (Counterterrorism Section), and the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California]]. [[Assistant Attorney General]] [[Kristen Clarke]] of the Civil Rights Division delivered remarks at the charging announcement.[^2] + +### Statutory Theory: 18 U.S.C. § 2339A + +The material support charge under § 2339A was the most legally significant count. Unlike its companion statute, § 2339B, which is limited to designated [[Foreign Terrorist Organizations]], § 2339A broadly proscribes providing material support "knowing or intending that it will be used in preparation for, or in carrying out" specific terrorism-related offenses including assassination (18 U.S.C. § 351), use of weapons of mass destruction (§ 2332a), and destruction of energy facilities (§ 1366). + +At the time of the indictment, Terrorgram Collective was not designated as an FTO (which requires a State Department determination; the SDGT designation followed in January 2025). The choice of § 2339A therefore allowed prosecutors to proceed without an FTO predicate. The prosecution's theory was that Humber and Allison provided "services" and "personnel" (including themselves) in furtherance of the specific offenses to which the Terrorgram network's publications and activities were directed. + +[[Lawfare]] described the use of § 2339A in this context as significant, noting that while not entirely without precedent, applying it to an online content production operation required the government to prove that propaganda production and distribution constituted "services" in legal contemplation.[^3] + +### Evidence Cited + +The indictment and DOJ press releases identified specific evidentiary items: Humber's December 2022 post of electrical substation transformer images captioned "for educational purposes only of course"; her January 2023 post praising the Randolph County, [[EnergyUnited]] substation shooting as evidence that Terrorgram's "hard work in detailing its effectiveness" had "encouraged" the attack; her October 2022 communications with a [[Telegram]] user planning a Brazil school shooting one month before the [[Aracruz school shootings|Aracruz attack]]; her continued contact from pretrial detention; all three Terrorgram publications (*Militant Accelerationism*, *Do It For The Gram*, *The Hard Reset*); and the "White Terror" video series produced by Allison featuring 105 far-right killers.[^4] + +### Outcomes + +Humber changed her plea to guilty on August 8, 2025. U.S. District Judge [[Dena Coggins]] sentenced her on December 19, 2025, to 360 months (30 years) in federal prison plus lifetime supervised release. The sentence exceeded the 20 years given to Terrorgram co-founder [[Matthew Althorpe]] in Canada. + +Allison pleaded not guilty and contested the charges. As of May 2026, his trial was pending in the Eastern District of California. He remained in federal custody. + +DOJ linked the case to a separately prosecuted Wisconsin murder-for-hire plot targeting a federal official and to the infrastructure sabotage charges against [[Andrew Takhistov]] in New Jersey, as examples of the Terrorgram network's downstream violence. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CourtListener. United States v. Humber, 2:24-cr-00257 (E.D. Cal.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69144957/united-states-v-humber/; DocumentCloud. Humber-Allison Indictment. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25598913-humber-allison-indictment/ +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged." September 9, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/leaders-transnational-terrorist-group-charged-soliciting-hate-crimes-soliciting-murder; DOJ OPA. "Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks Announcing Charges Against Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group." September 9, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/speech/assistant-attorney-general-kristen-clarke-delivers-remarks-announcing-charges-against +[^3]: Lawfare. "Why the Terrorgram Collective Designation Matters." January 2025. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/why-the-terrorgram-collective-designation-matters +[^4]: Fox 8. "'Terrorgram' leaders Dallas Humber, Matthew Allison referenced North Carolina EnergyUnited substation shooting, court documents show." https://myfox8.com/news/storylines/power-grid-attack/indicted-terrorgram-neo-nazi-cited-randolph-county-substation-attack-court-documents-show-this-avenue-of-attack-has-really-caught-on/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Martin (4-25-cr-00190).md b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Martin (4-25-cr-00190).md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..718ad557 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Martin (4-25-cr-00190).md @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - FederalCase + - NVE + - DomesticTerrorism + - MaterialSupport + - TerrorismCharge + - Arizona + - CSAM + - ChildExploitation + - 764Network +summary: "United States v. Martin, 4:25-cr-00190, is the first federal prosecution to charge a 764 Network member under a terrorism statute, using 18 U.S.C. § 2339A anchored to an 18 U.S.C. § 956(a) conspiracy to kill or maim a victim located overseas." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2024-12-11 +location: "District of Arizona, Tucson Division" +--- + +United States v. Martin, 4:25-cr-00190-TUC-AMM(BGM), is a federal criminal case pending in the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona]], [[Tucson Division]], against [[Baron Cain Martin]], alias "Convict." The case is historically significant as the first federal prosecution to charge a [[764 Network|764]] or related [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism]] (NVE) network member under a federal terrorism statute. + +### Procedural History + +Martin was arrested on December 11, 2024 on initial charges filed under magistrate case 4:24-mj-11950. A federal grand jury returned a 29-count superseding indictment that was unsealed on October 31, 2025. Martin was arraigned on the superseding indictment on November 21, 2025, and entered a not-guilty plea to all counts. + +The case was designated complex by the court. [[Angela M. Martinez|U.S. District Judge Angela M. Martinez]] is the presiding judge; [[Bruce G. Macdonald]] is the assigned magistrate. An original trial date of March 24, 2026 was vacated. A status conference was scheduled before Magistrate Macdonald for May 19, 2026. The current jury trial date is June 30, 2026, with a plea deadline of June 19, 2026.[^1] + +Martin has been held in federal pretrial detention continuously since December 11, 2024. + +The prosecution is led by [[Justin Sher]] and [[James Donnelly]] of the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] National Security Division's [[Counterterrorism Section]], under the authority of [[U.S. Attorney]] [[Timothy Courchaine]] for the [[District of Arizona]].[^2] + +### Charges + +The 29-count superseding indictment charges: + +- Participating in a child exploitation enterprise (18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)), life maximum +- Conspiring to provide material support to terrorists ([[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]]), 15 years maximum +- Conspiring to kill, kidnap or maim persons in a foreign country ([[18 U.S.C. § 956|18 U.S.C. § 956(a)]]), life maximum if death results; 35 years for maiming +- Producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), 5 counts, 30 years per count +- Distributing CSAM, 11 counts +- Coercing and enticing minors to engage in sexual activity, 3 counts, life maximum +- Cyberstalking, 3 counts, up to 20 years per count for offenses resulting in permanent disfigurement +- Animal crushing and distribution of animal crush videos +- Conspiracy to commit wire fraud[^2] + +### The Terrorism Theory + +The terrorism count (2339A conspiracy) is the legally unprecedented element of the case. DOJ charged Martin with conspiring to provide material support, specifically himself as personnel, the "[[Grooming/Manipulation Egirls Guide]]" as expert advice or assistance, and operational direction of other 764 members as services, in furtherance of a conspiracy under 956(a) to kill or maim persons in a foreign country. + +The predicate 956(a) conspiracy rests on a September 2022 episode in which Martin and co-conspirators allegedly directed a victim identified as "Victim 7," located outside the United States, to self-harm, self-maim, and die by suicide. DOJ's theory classifies coercing an overseas victim into lethal self-harm as a conspiracy to "kill or maim" within the meaning of 956(a). No [[Foreign Terrorist Organization]] designation is required under 2339A.[^3] + +The specific form of material support alleged includes three categories: +1. Personnel: Martin provided himself as an operator directing the 956(a) conspiracy +2. Expert advice or assistance: authorship and distribution of the grooming guide +3. Services: operational direction and coordination of 764 network activity + +U.S. Attorney Courchaine stated at a press conference that the ideology itself provides the terrorism nexus: "It's terrorism because it was an ideology that specifically motivated violent actions," referring to the stated 764 goal of bringing about societal collapse.[^4] + +### Victims + +The superseding indictment identifies at least nine victims, eight of whom were minors between the ages of 11 and 15 at the time of the offenses. Victims are not publicly named. Alleged conduct includes coercing victims to produce CSAM, self-harm, self-maim, and harm or kill animals. An additional allegation concerns a 2022 murder-for-hire solicitation in which Martin allegedly offered $3,000 to have the grandmother of a 13-year-old victim killed and provided the grandmother's address alongside the solicitation in a [[Discord]] chat.[^4] + +### Precedential Value + +The case establishes the first documented instance of 2339A being applied to an NVE network member. The 956(a)/2339A combination is available against any 764 operator where at least one victim can be identified as located outside the United States, a condition routinely met given 764's transnational structure. The case thus creates a replicable terrorism charging template for future 764 prosecutions. + +Analysts at the [[GWU Program on Extremism]] described the case as signaling that DOJ "has signaled that NVE networks like 764 are terrorist enterprises engaged in organized campaigns of violence and coercion designed to terrorize, destabilize, and degrade society."[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CourtListener, United States v. Martin, 4:25-cr-00190-TUC-AMM(BGM), D. Ariz. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69535068/united-states-v-martin/; PacerMonitor, USA v. Martin. https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/56789960/USA_v_Martin + +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise + +[^3]: Baumgartner, Luke, and Barry Jonas. "How the DOJ is Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism as Domestic Terrorism." *Just Security,* December 9, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/126226/prosecuting-nihilistic-violent-extremism-domestic-terrorism/ + +[^4]: AZFamily. "Tucson case first in nation to pursue federal terrorism charges against member of 764." April 3, 2026. https://www.azfamily.com/2026/04/03/tucson-case-first-nation-pursue-federal-terrorism-charges-against-member-764/ diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Rane et al. (2-25-cr-00040).md b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Rane et al. (2-25-cr-00040).md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c7c263f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Rane et al. (2-25-cr-00040).md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - FederalCase + - CVLT + - ChildExploitation + - CSAM + - ChildExploitationEnterprise + - CentralDistrictCalifornia + - FederalProsecution +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "United States v. Rane et al. (2:25-cr-00040) is the Central District of California federal prosecution of four CVLT leaders charged in January 2025 with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)." +--- + +United States v. Rane et al., 2:25-cr-00040, is the federal criminal case prosecuted in the [[Central District of California]] before United States District Judge [[Hernan D. Vera]] against four members of [[CVLT]], the online child exploitation network that operated from at least 2019 to 2022. + +### Indictment + +A federal grand jury returned the indictment on January 17, 2025. The indictment was unsealed approximately February 4-5, 2025. The investigating agencies were [[Homeland Security Investigations]] (HSI) Los Angeles, HSI Cherry Hill (New Jersey), and HSI Honolulu, with cooperation from the [[Los Angeles Police Department]], [[San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office]], [[Henry County Sheriff's Office]] (Virginia), [[Iowa State University Police Department]], and [[Police Nationale]] (France). + +The indictment named four defendants: [[Rohan Rane]] (Rohan Sandeep Rane, born 1996, Antibes, France), [[Kaleb Merritt]] (Kaleb Christopher Merritt, born approximately 2000, Spring, Texas), [[Clint Borge]] (Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, born 1983, Pahoa, Hawaii), and [[Collin Walker]] (Collin John Thomas Walker, born 2001, Bridgeton, New Jersey).[^1] + +The indictment charged all four defendants in a single count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]]. The enterprise charged covered conduct from at least 2019 to 2022. The indictment alleged at least 16 minor victims worldwide, with at least two in Southern California. Two unnamed minor co-conspirators were also referenced, one of whom was also described as a victim.[^1] + +### Statutory Theory + +The child exploitation enterprise statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g), requires proof that the defendant: (1) violated underlying child exploitation statutes (including production and distribution of child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors under Chapters 109A, 110, or 117 of Title 18); (2) as part of a series of three or more separate felony violations; (3) involving more than one victim; and (4) in concert with three or more other persons. The mandatory minimum sentence upon conviction is 20 years; the maximum is life imprisonment. + +DOJ applied the same statute in the more recent [[764 Network|764]] prosecutions, including United States v. Varagiannis and Nepal (leading [[764 Inferno]]) and United States v. Martin (the first terrorism-enhanced 764 prosecution). The CVLT case was the first application of the enterprise theory to the CVLT organizational lineage.[^2] + +### Arrests and Initial Appearances + +When the indictment was unsealed, Rane remained in French custody. Merritt was already incarcerated at [[Pocahontas State Correctional Center]], Virginia. Walker was arrested by HSI Cherry Hill in New Jersey, appeared in court, was assigned counsel, and was remanded to [[U.S. Marshals]]. Borge was arrested by HSI Honolulu; a federal magistrate in Los Angeles denied bail at his February 6, 2025 initial appearance.[^3] + +### Plea Record and Sentencing Schedule + +- Collin Walker: guilty plea, October 2025. Sentencing scheduled January 29, 2026 (outcome not publicly announced by DOJ as of May 2026). +- Clint Borge: guilty plea, December 2025. Sentencing scheduled March 12, 2026 (outcome not publicly announced by DOJ as of May 2026). +- Kaleb Merritt: guilty plea, March 26, 2026. Sentencing scheduled January 7, 2027. +- Rohan Rane: no U.S. plea entered; in French custody pending extradition as of May 2026.[^4] + +### Connection to 764 Prosecution Wave + +The CVLT indictment was part of the DOJ's multi-case prosecution campaign against [[The Com]] and its predecessor networks. The enterprise statute theory used in 2:25-cr-00040 was the same framework applied in the contemporaneous prosecution of [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]] for leading 764 Inferno. [[NCITE]] documented 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes across CVLT, [[Greggy's Cult]], and 764 as of December 2025, treating them as a connected prosecutorial lineage.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: United States v. Rane et al., 2:25-cr-00040 (C.D. Cal.), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69613728/united-states-v-rane/; DOJ OPA. "Four Members of Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Minors Charged with Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." February 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-members-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-minors-charged-producing-child-sexual-abuse +[^2]: HSI. "HSI Los Angeles, Cherry Hill, and Honolulu special agents arrest members of online neo-Nazi group on child exploitation enterprise charges." February 2025. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-los-angeles-cherry-hill-and-honolulu-special-agents-arrest-members-online-neo; 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g), Cornell LII. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2252A +[^3]: Hawaii Tribune-Herald. "Judge: No bail for alleged CVLT member from Pahoa." February 6, 2025. https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2025/02/06/hawaii-news/judge-no-bail-for-alleged-cvlt-member-from-pahoa/ +[^4]: DOJ OPA. "Man Pleads Guilty to Participating in Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Children into Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material." March 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-participating-online-neo-nazi-group-exploited-children-producing-child +[^5]: NCITE. "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges." December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Shea et al. (2020).md b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Shea et al. (2020).md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cf713089 --- /dev/null +++ b/40 - EVENTS/United States v. Shea et al. (2020).md @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +--- +category: "Crime Investigation" +tags: + - Event + - AtomwaffenDivision + - FBI + - FBIInformant + - FederalCase + - USA + - Washington + - NeoNazi +summary: "United States v. Shea et al. is the 2020 federal case in the Western District of Washington in which Atomwaffen Division members were charged with conspiring to threaten journalists and activists, and through which Joshua Caleb Sutter's FBI informant status was first publicly revealed." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +start: 2020-02-26 +end: 2022-01-11 +location: "Seattle, Washington" +--- + +United States v. Shea et al., Case No. 2:20-cr-00032 ([[Western District of Washington|W.D. Wash.]]), is the federal criminal case in which five members of [[Atomwaffen Division]] were charged with conspiring to threaten and intimidate journalists, Jewish community members, and activists through a coordinated poster campaign in January 2020. The case became the primary vehicle through which [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]]'s 18-year paid [[FBI]] informant relationship was publicly revealed, through a motion to suppress filed by defendant [[Kaleb Cole]] on August 13, 2021. + +### Case History + +Five AWD members were arrested on February 26, 2020, in a coordinated operation by [[FBI]] [[Joint Terrorism Task Forces]] spanning four states. The defendants were: + +- [[Kaleb Cole]], 24, of Montgomery, Texas (formerly Arlington, Washington) +- [[Cameron Brandon Shea]], 24, of Redmond, Washington +- Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, 20, of Spring Hill, Florida +- Johnny Roman Garza, 20, of Queen Creek, Arizona +- A fifth defendant from the Dallas, Texas area + +The charges centered on a January 2020 campaign in which AWD members delivered and mailed threatening posters to residences and businesses in western Washington, primarily targeting Jewish Washingtonians and journalists covering antisemitism. Posters bore swastikas, skulls, and language including "We know where you live" and "Death to Pigs." + +### Guilty Pleas by Co-Defendants + +All defendants except Cole pleaded guilty before trial. Cameron Shea pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 36 months in May 2021 by the [[Eastern District of Virginia|E.D. Va.]] in a separately entered plea.[^1] John Cameron Denton, the AWD leader charged in a related case ([[United States v. Denton]], 1:20-cr-00154, [[Eastern District of Virginia|E.D. Va.]]), pleaded guilty in July 2020 to conspiracy and interstate threats and was sentenced to 41 months in May 2021.[^2] + +### The Suppression Motion and Informant Revelation + +Cole proceeded to trial. His defense filed a motion to suppress evidence on August 13, 2021, arguing that the search warrant affidavit used to search Cole's home was defective under the doctrine of [[Franks v. Delaware]] (1978) because it failed to disclose material information about the confidential informant who provided the basis for the warrant. + +The motion described the CI as: "a convicted felon and currently owns and operates a publishing company that distributes white supremacist writings." It further stated that the CI "has been paid $78,133.20 plus an expense advance of $4,378.60 since February 7, 2018," and that this period "almost entirely coincides with his work on the investigation into Mr. Cole."[^3] The motion did not name Sutter, but the details were sufficient for identification. + +Investigative journalist [[Ali Winston]] identified Sutter from the motion and published his identification on August 13, 2021, the same day the motion was filed.[^4] + +### Government Response + +The DOJ's response to the suppression motion acknowledged a disclosure failure but argued it was legally harmless: "Although the defense is correct that certain potential impeachment information about the informant was not included in the affidavit, that omission is hardly fatal."[^3] The government did not assert that the CI's publishing activities were authorized, and did not address the substance of those activities. + +### Coughenour's Ruling + +Judge [[John C. Coughenour]] denied the motion to suppress and for a Franks hearing in an order dated August 30, 2021. His ruling stated: "The FBI's longstanding relationship with the informant and the compensation it paid to him, approximately $140,000 over a sixteen-year period, does not impugn his credibility." The ruling found the warrant sufficient despite the affidavit's omission of the CI's criminal history and paid status.[^5] + +### Trial, Conviction, and Sentence + +Sutter was called as a witness at Cole's trial in September 2021. He testified that the [[FBI Columbia Field Office]] handler Special Agent [[Bill Moser]] directed him to join AWD in a "deep-cover capacity" and that he was "instructed to continue the relationships that I had in the right wing."[^6] + +Cole was convicted on September 29, 2021, on five counts: one count of interfering with a federally protected activity because of religion, three counts of mailing threatening communications, and one count of conspiracy. He was sentenced to 84 months (seven years) by Judge Coughenour on January 11, 2022.[^7] + +### Ninth Circuit Appeal + +Cole appealed his conviction. The appeal is docketed as No. 22-30015 in the [[Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals]].[^8] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: DOJ USAO-EDVA. "Former Atomwaffen Division Leader Sentenced for Swatting Conspiracy." May 4, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-atomwaffen-division-leader-sentenced-swatting-conspiracy + +[^2]: UPI. "Ex-leader of neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division sentenced for swatting conspiracy." May 4, 2021. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/05/04/Atomwaffen-Divison-leader-John-Cameron-Denton-sentenced-swatting-conspiracy/5111620181231/ + +[^3]: Motion to Suppress, United States v. Shea et al., 2:20-cr-00032 (W.D. Wash.), August 13, 2021. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/kaleb-cole-august-13-2021-motion-to-suppress-1 Secondary source: Owen, Tess. "FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim," *Vice,* 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/fbi-bankrolled-publisher-of-occult-neo-nazi-books-feds-claim/ + +[^4]: Winston, Ali. Twitter/X thread, August 13, 2021. https://x.com/awinston/status/1429086087830515717 + +[^5]: Order Denying Motion to Suppress, United States v. Cole, Case No. CR20-0032-JCC (W.D. Wash., August 30, 2021). Leagle.com identifier: infdco20210901708. + +[^6]: Trial testimony of Joshua Sutter, United States v. Shea et al., 2:20-cr-00032 (W.D. Wash.), September 2021. DocumentCloud doc 22056395: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22056395-trial-testimony-of-joshua-sutter/ + +[^7]: NBC News. "Neo-Nazi leader sentenced to 7 years for plot to intimidate Jews, journalists." January 11, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/neo-nazi-leader-sentenced-7-years-plot-intimidate-jews-journalists-rcna11837 + +[^8]: Justia Dockets. USA v. Kaleb Cole, No. 22-30015. https://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca9/22-30015 diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/18 U.S.C. § 2339A.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/18 U.S.C. § 2339A.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..bc8601f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/18 U.S.C. § 2339A.md @@ -0,0 +1,79 @@ +--- +category: "Intelligence Concept" +tags: + - Concept + - FederalLaw + - Terrorism + - MaterialSupport + - DomesticTerrorism + - NVE + - LegalFramework +summary: "18 U.S.C. § 2339A is the federal material support to terrorists statute that does not require a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, instead requiring only that support be provided knowing it will be used to carry out one of its listed predicate offenses." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +--- + +[[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]], titled "Providing material support to terrorists," is a federal criminal statute that prohibits knowingly providing material support or resources to be used in preparation for or in carrying out any of a specified list of violent federal crimes. Unlike its companion statute [[18 U.S.C. § 2339B]], it does not require that the support be directed to a State Department-designated [[Foreign Terrorist Organization]] (FTO), making it available as a charging vehicle against domestic networks and individuals engaged in violent conspiracies without formal ideological or organizational affiliations to recognized foreign terrorist groups. + +The statute gained its first use against a [[764 Network]] member in the October 2025 indictment of [[Baron Cain Martin]] in [[United States v. Martin (4-25-cr-00190)|United States v. Martin]], 4:25-cr-00190-TUC-AMM(BGM), [[District of Arizona]].[^1] + +### Elements of the Offense + +To sustain a conviction under 2339A, the government must prove that the defendant: + +1. Provided, attempted to provide, or conspired to provide material support or resources; +2. Knowing or intending that the material support would be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, a violation of a listed predicate offense. + +No proof of membership in any terrorist organization is required. No proof of a specifically terrorist motive is required. The statute criminalizes support for the listed acts themselves, not support for any ideological or organizational entity.[^2] + +### Definition of Material Support + +"Material support or resources" is defined under the statute to include any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance (defined as advice or assistance derived from scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge), safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel (including oneself), and transportation. Medicine and religious materials are excluded.[^3] + +The breadth of this definition has been central to litigation: the "expert advice or assistance" category in particular has been used to encompass written manuals, operational guidance documents, and tactical training, as in the Martin case where DOJ classified the "[[Grooming/Manipulation Egirls Guide]]" authored by Martin as expert advice under the statute. + +### The Conspiracy Provision + +Section 2339A contains its own conspiracy provision: "Whoever... conspires to commit any [listed] offense..." commits a crime. Because the conspiracy provision is self-contained, no overt act is required once the agreement is established. This means DOJ can charge a conspiracy under 2339A that is itself a conspiracy to commit another conspiracy charge (here, under [[18 U.S.C. § 956|18 U.S.C. § 956(a)]]) without triggering the "conspiracy to conspire" objection that would apply to a standard double-conspiracy theory.[^4] + +### Key Predicate Offenses + +Section 2339A lists numerous predicate offenses against which the material support prohibition applies. In the 764 Network context, the most significant predicate is: + +- [[18 U.S.C. § 956]]: Conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country + +Section 956(a) requires a conspiracy within U.S. jurisdiction, an overt act by a conspirator within the United States, and that the target of the conspiracy be located outside the United States. This foreign-country requirement is what gives the Martin prosecution its jurisdictional hook: DOJ's theory requires only that one victim of the directed lethal coercion be located outside the United States. + +Other predicate offenses in 2339A include violations of statutes covering weapons of mass destruction, aircraft piracy, nuclear sabotage, assassination of government officials, and mass transportation attacks, among others. + +### Contrast with 18 U.S.C. § 2339B + +[[18 U.S.C. § 2339B]], enacted by Congress to target support for organized foreign terrorist groups, requires that the support be "knowingly" directed to an organization that the Secretary of State has designated as an FTO under the [[Immigration and Nationality Act]]. The FTO designation requirement was upheld by the Supreme Court in [[Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project]], 561 U.S. 1 (2010), which rejected a First Amendment challenge but did not alter the statutory requirement of a designated organization. + +Because 764 has not been designated an FTO by the State Department, 2339B was unavailable as a charging vehicle in the Martin prosecution. 2339A requires no such designation, making it the operative statute for domestic and transnational networks that engage in directed violence without formal State Department recognition as terrorist organizations.[^5] + +### Sentencing + +A violation of 2339A carries a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment. If the offense resulted in death, the maximum is life imprisonment. The statute does not specify mandatory minimums. + +### Application to Nihilistic Violent Extremism + +The use of 2339A in the Martin prosecution signals a significant extension of the statute's traditional domain. Prior 2339A prosecutions predominantly involved individuals providing support to designated foreign groups (ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah) or to known co-conspirators in attacks on foreign soil. The Martin case applies the statute to a domestic network member whose "material support" consisted of authoring a grooming manual and directing an extortion campaign that caused an overseas victim to be coerced into self-harm. + +Legal analysts [[Luke Baumgartner]] and [[Barry Jonas]] of the [[GWU Program on Extremism]] argued in December 2025 that by "deploying a statute traditionally reserved for international terrorism," DOJ "has signaled that NVE networks like 764 are terrorist enterprises engaged in organized campaigns of violence and coercion designed to terrorize, destabilize, and degrade society."[^1] + +A competing analysis, published in [[Just Security]] in March 2026, raised civil liberties concerns: because 2339A does not require proof of membership in any terrorist organization, does not require a terrorist motive, and does not require that the underlying conduct be recognizable as terrorism in its ordinary sense, the statute is "uniquely susceptible to potential overreach" and could criminalize conduct as trivial as carpooling to a political protest if it can be framed as material support for a predicate offense.[^6] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Baumgartner, Luke, and Barry Jonas. "How the DOJ is Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism as Domestic Terrorism." *Just Security,* December 9, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/126226/prosecuting-nihilistic-violent-extremism-domestic-terrorism/ + +[^2]: Congressional Research Service, "Terrorist Material Support: An Overview of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A and § 2339B," CRS Report R41333. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R41333 + +[^3]: 18 U.S.C. § 2339A(b)(1). Cornell LII: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2339A + +[^4]: CRS Report R41333. The report states: "Section 2339A can be used to punish a conspiracy to provide material support or resources in furtherance of a crime that is itself a conspiracy to take further unlawful action, and such a charge will not be deemed an impermissible 'conspiracy to conspire.'" + +[^5]: Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. 1 (2010). + +[^6]: "How a Broadly Defined Counterterrorism Statute Could Be Abused." *Just Security,* March 3, 2026. https://www.justsecurity.org/132743/how-a-broadly-defined-counterterrorism-statute-could-be-abused/ diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/18 U.S.C. § 956.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/18 U.S.C. § 956.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5dd112d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/18 U.S.C. § 956.md @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +--- +category: "Intelligence Concept" +tags: + - Concept + - FederalLaw + - Terrorism + - ForeignCountry + - Conspiracy + - LegalFramework + - NVE +summary: "18 U.S.C. § 956(a) prohibits conspiracies within the United States to murder, kidnap, or maim persons in a foreign country, and functions as the predicate offense anchoring the terrorism material support charge in United States v. Martin against 764 Network leader Baron Cain Martin." +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +--- + +[[18 U.S.C. § 956]], titled "Conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country," prohibits certain violent conspiracies targeting people or property outside the United States when formed and carried out in part within U.S. jurisdiction. Subsection (a) is the operative provision for the terrorism material support charge in [[United States v. Martin (4-25-cr-00190)|United States v. Martin]], where it serves as the predicate offense under [[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]]. + +### Elements of 956(a) + +Section 956(a) requires the government to prove: + +1. A conspiracy, formed within U.S. jurisdiction, to commit murder, kidnapping, or maiming; +2. Targeting a person or persons located outside the United States; +3. An overt act by one or more conspirators committed within the United States in furtherance of the conspiracy. + +The statute does not require that the intended victim be a foreign national, only that the planned harm be directed at a person located abroad. It applies where the United States is at peace with the country where the target is located.[^1] + +### Penalties + +- Conspiracy to murder: imprisonment for any term of years or for life +- Conspiracy to maim: up to 35 years +- Conspiracy to damage or destroy foreign government or public property (subsection b): up to 25 years + +### Application to Self-Directed Violence + +The central legal question in the [[Baron Cain Martin]] prosecution is whether 956(a)'s prohibition on conspiracy to "kill" or "maim" extends to a scenario in which the perpetrator directs a victim to inflict the lethal or serious physical harm on herself, rather than acting directly or through a third-party agent. The government's theory is that coercing a psychologically vulnerable overseas minor into self-harm, self-maiming, or suicide constitutes a conspiracy to "kill or maim" within the meaning of the statute. + +No published Ninth Circuit precedent directly addresses this question in the context of coerced self-harm. Defense counsel in the Martin case would potentially argue that "conspiracy to kill or maim" requires an agreement to have a third party perform the act of killing or maiming, and that directed self-harm falls outside the statute's scope. As of May 2026, no defense motion challenging the terrorism charge on these grounds has appeared in public docket summaries.[^2] + +### Role as 2339A Predicate + +The foreign-country requirement of 956(a) is what enables its use as a 2339A predicate in network prosecution contexts. Because 764 and its successor networks operate transnationally, with victims in dozens of countries, the government can generally identify at least one victim located outside the United States in any given leadership prosecution. This makes the 956(a)/2339A combination structurally available against senior 764 operators regardless of where they personally reside. + +In the Martin indictment, the specific predicate episode involves Victim 7 (not publicly identified), who was located overseas and was allegedly directed by Martin and co-conspirators in September 2022 to self-harm, self-maim, and die by suicide.[^3] + +### Relation to Conspiracy to Conspire Problem + +Because [[18 U.S.C. § 2339A]] has its own embedded conspiracy provision, charging a conspiracy to provide material support in furtherance of what is itself a conspiracy under 956(a) does not constitute an impermissible "conspiracy to conspire." This point was addressed in the [[Congressional Research Service]] analysis of the 2339A/2339B statutes and is relied upon in the Baumgartner/Jonas Just Security analysis of the Martin prosecution.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: 18 U.S.C. § 956. Cornell LII: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/956 + +[^2]: CourtListener, United States v. Martin, 4:25-cr-00190-TUC-AMM(BGM), D. Ariz. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69535068/united-states-v-martin/ + +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise + +[^4]: Congressional Research Service. "Terrorist Material Support: An Overview of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A and § 2339B," CRS Report R41333. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R41333; Baumgartner, Luke, and Barry Jonas. "How the DOJ is Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism as Domestic Terrorism." *Just Security,* December 9, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/126226/prosecuting-nihilistic-violent-extremism-domestic-terrorism/ diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Accelerationism.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Accelerationism.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..bd425f95 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Accelerationism.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Concept + - Accelerationism + - NeoNazi + - AtomwaffenDivision + - TerrorgramCollective + - SiegeCulture + - O9A +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Accelerationism, in the far-right context, is the strategic doctrine that targeted violence will hasten the collapse of liberal democratic society and create conditions for white nationalist reconstitution, foundational to Atomwaffen Division, Terrorgram Collective, and The Base." +--- + +"[[Accelerationism]]" in the far-right and neo-Nazi contexts refers to the strategic doctrine that targeted violence (against people, social institutions, and physical infrastructure) will hasten the collapse of existing liberal democratic society and thereby create conditions for a fascist or white nationalist reconstitution. The term was borrowed and inverted from left-wing economic theory, where it describes the argument that capitalism's contradictions should be accelerated to hasten its resolution. Far-right accelerationists adapted this logic, but instead of economic contradiction, social and political violence will produce the collapse, and the collapse will produce white nationalist revolutionary conditions. [[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]* is the foundational text of accelerationist neo-Nazism, written between 1980 and 1986 and compiled into a book in 1992. [[Atomwaffen Division]], [[Terrorgram Collective]], and [[The Base]] are the three most documented accelerationist organizations of the 2015-2025 period.[^1] + +### The Strategic Argument + +The accelerationist strategic argument proceeds in three steps. First, the existing political order is defined as irretrievably corrupt (a system controlled by Jewish elites, or a multiracial democratic order, or a global liberal hegemony) and incapable of reform. Second, the collapse of this order is posited as both inevitable and desirable: once it fails, its replacements can be built. Third, violence is assigned the role of catalyst: lone-wolf attacks, mass casualty events, and infrastructure sabotage are framed as accelerants that hasten the collapse, demoralize the mainstream, provoke government overreaction, and demonstrate that the existing order cannot protect its own citizens. + +Mason's *Siege* makes this argument, rejecting electoral politics, legal organizing, and coalition-building as forms of collaboration with the system. The lone-wolf attacker (acting independently and without organizational affiliation that law enforcement can disrupt) is the ideal accelerationist actor.[^2] + +### Infrastructure and Power Grid Attacks + +A specific strand of accelerationist operational theory focuses on physical infrastructure, particularly the electrical grid. The argument, made most explicitly by [[Brandon Russell]] and [[Sarah Beth Clendaniel]] in their 2023 Baltimore power grid conspiracy, holds that simultaneous attacks on multiple substations could cascade into city-wide or regional blackouts. Social disorder follows blackouts; blackouts create the conditions for racial violence and political crisis. + +[[John Cameron Denton]], AWD's propaganda chief, organized a sustained swatting campaign from late 2018 into 2019 targeting journalists, civil rights organizations, and other individuals AWD viewed as enemies, a form of operational harassment that deployed false emergency reports to trigger armed police responses at victims' homes and workplaces.[^3] + +### Terrorism as Acceleration + +[[Dylann Roof]] explicitly stated his goal in the 2015 Charleston attack as "starting a race war" - a form of acceleration. [[Brenton Tarrant]]'s Christchurch manifesto stated that his attack would provoke government overreaction and accelerate the radicalization process. Each subsequent attacker in the documented inspiration chain ([[Payton Gendron]], [[Juraj Krajčík]], [[Arda Küçükyetim]], [[Nikita Casap]], [[Cain Clark]]) applied the same logic. + +The [[Saints Culture]] framework operationalizes this: by treating each attacker as a martyred exemplary figure, the network continuously recruits from the pool of individuals consuming accelerationist content, producing a self-sustaining inspiration pipeline.[^4] + +### Ecofascism and Accelerationism + +An emergent strand of accelerationist thinking combines white nationalist politics with ecological collapse ideology, arguing that environmental destruction will produce the systemic collapse that political violence alone might not achieve - or that post-collapse societies will necessarily revert to tribalism and racial segregation. [[Cain Clark]], one of the perpetrators of the [[2026 Islamic Center of San Diego Shooting|2026 San Diego mosque attack]], described himself as a "Christian ecofascist," placing him in this intersection of accelerationism and ecofascist collapse ideology.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: SPLC. "Accelerationism." https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/accelerationism +[^2]: SPLC. "James Mason." https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/james-mason; ProPublica. "Armed and Dangerous." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-armed-and-dangerous +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice. "Leader of Violent Extremist Organization Sentenced for Conspiracy to Damage and Destroy Energy Facilities." 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/florida-man-sentenced-20-years-conspiring-destroy-baltimore-region-power-grid +[^4]: ICCT. "Christchurch Attacks and the Role of Online Propaganda." https://icct.nl/publication/christchurch-attacks-and-the-role-of-online-propaganda/ +[^5]: ADL. "Eco-Fascism: The Green Wing of the Far Right." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/eco-fascism-green-wing-far-right diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/FISA Section 702.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/FISA Section 702.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..124a71e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/FISA Section 702.md @@ -0,0 +1,115 @@ +--- +category: "Intelligence Concept" +tags: + - Concept + - Surveillance + - FISA + - NationalSecurity + - FourthAmendment + - CivilLiberties + - FederalLaw + - FBI + - NSA + - BackdoorSearch +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authorizes warrantless collection of foreigners' communications from U.S. service providers, with documented application to Americans' communications through 'backdoor searches' that courts have found to require Fourth Amendment scrutiny, including in at least one domestic extremism prosecution." +--- + +Section 702 of the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] (FISA) is the statutory authority, codified at [[50 U.S.C. § 1881a]], under which the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA), [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA), and [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] may compel U.S. electronic communication service providers to assist in the warrantless collection of communications of foreign nationals reasonably believed to be located outside the United States. Enacted as Title VII of the [[FISA Amendments Act of 2008]] and most recently reauthorized by the [[Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act]] (RISAA) on April 20, 2024, Section 702 does not require the government to obtain an individual warrant before collection. Its application to Americans' communications through "backdoor searches" of the resulting databases has produced a decade of constitutional litigation, documented compliance failures, and at least one challenge in a domestic extremism prosecution arising from the [[2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy]]. + +### Statutory Mechanics + +Under Section 702, the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence jointly certify to the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]] (FISC) that collection targets non-U.S. persons outside the United States for the purpose of acquiring foreign intelligence information. The certification is high-level and does not identify specific targets; the government issues directives directly to service providers, who must comply and may challenge the directive through the FISC. No individual warrant is required and no judge reviews specific targeting decisions before collection begins. + +The statute prohibits intentionally targeting any person known to be located inside the United States, and prohibits reverse targeting: using a foreign-located person as a pretext to surveil an American. However, the communications of U.S. persons are collected "incidentally" when those persons communicate with a targeted foreign national. Once collected, the NSA, CIA, and FBI may query the stored communications databases using a U.S. person identifier (name, phone number, email address) without first obtaining a warrant. This practice is commonly called a "backdoor search" or "U.S. person query."[^1] + +The government annually submits certifications to the FISC covering broad categories of collection (counterterrorism, counterproliferation, cybersecurity, foreign government activity). The FISC approves the certification and accompanying targeting and minimization procedures; it does not review individual collection decisions. + +### Incidental Collection and the Backdoor Search Problem + +Because Section 702 collection sweeps in all communications between a foreign target and their U.S. contacts, the databases contain substantial volumes of purely domestic communications by Americans who were never suspected of any wrongdoing. The practice of querying those databases using U.S. person identifiers without a warrant has been the central civil liberties objection to the program since its inception. + +The [[American Civil Liberties Union]] has described backdoor searches as a mechanism by which the government effectively searches Americans' private communications without a warrant, simply by routing the search through a database of material collected under a foreign intelligence authority. The ACLU's National Security Project, led by senior staff attorney [[Ashley Gorski]], has been the primary institutional litigant pressing this Fourth Amendment challenge.[^2] + +The FISC disclosed in a declassified opinion (made public May 2023) that between approximately 2020 and early 2022, the FBI conducted more than 278,000 U.S. person queries that did not comply with the statutory querying standard. A subset of those non-compliant queries was related to "civil unrest and protests" (including batch queries of 141 persons arrested in connection with protests following the death of [[George Floyd]] in late May through mid-June 2020), more than 20,000 queries of persons affiliated with groups suspected of involvement in the [[January 6, 2021 Capitol breach|January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol]], and queries conducted in connection with "domestic terrorism investigations involving racially motivated violent extremists."[^3] + +The FISC opinion found that one query in a domestic terrorism investigation alone "returned 33 Section 702-acquired products." The FISC characterized these compliance failures as serious and required remediation, while also noting that reforms implemented in 2021 and 2022 had brought the FBI's compliance rate above 98 percent by the time of the 2023 opinion. + +### Major Litigation: United States v. Hasbajrami + +The leading judicial decision on the constitutionality of backdoor searches arose from [[United States v. Hasbajrami]], a prosecution in the [[Eastern District of New York]]. [[Agron Hasbajrami]], a U.S. person, pleaded guilty in 2012 to attempting to provide material support to terrorists and was sentenced to 180 months. While he was incarcerated, prosecutors disclosed that some evidence they would have introduced was acquired through [[FISA]] orders predicated on information collected under Section 702. The disclosure opened a decade of constitutional litigation. + +On December 18, 2019, the [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] ruled that U.S. person queries of Section 702 databases constitute "separate Fourth Amendment events" from the initial collection, and must independently comport with the Fourth Amendment. The Second Circuit remanded to the district court to determine whether a warrant was required. On January 21, 2025, the district court issued a declassified ruling finding that warrantless backdoor searches of Section 702 data using U.S. person identifiers violated the Fourth Amendment and required a warrant. This was the first federal court ruling to impose a warrant requirement on U.S. person queries of Section 702 data.[^4] + +The ACLU represented Hasbajrami in the appeals. The ruling's limited applicability (the Second Circuit's jurisdiction, plus the case's specific procedural posture) meant the warrant requirement did not immediately extend to other circuits or to investigative practice generally. No circuit court has yet adopted the district court's holding as binding precedent, and the government's position on appeal remained pending as of mid-2026. + +### Use in Criminal Prosecution and the Notice Requirement + +FISA requires the government to provide notice to a criminal defendant when evidence "obtained or derived from" FISA surveillance will be used at trial. The statute creates a process by which the defendant may then move to suppress that evidence and the district court may review the underlying surveillance in camera and ex parte. DOJ's record on providing this notice has been a persistent source of criticism: between 2008 and 2013, DOJ's National Security Division apparently adopted an interpretation of "derived from" that effectively eliminated notice in almost all cases. After the Supreme Court's 2013 decision in [[Clapper v. Amnesty International]], which held that civil plaintiffs had no standing to challenge Section 702 collection, FISA notice in criminal cases became the primary vehicle for constitutional challenge. + +DOJ has provided Section 702 notice in nine criminal prosecutions since the program's inception. The practice of "parallel construction," in which investigators recreate evidence through conventional means to avoid triggering the notice requirement, has been documented and criticized in oversight reports and press investigations.[^5] + +### The Russell Challenge: United States v. Russell, D. Md. + +The most significant domestic extremism challenge to Section 702 to emerge from a criminal prosecution occurred in [[United States v. Russell, 1:23-cr-00029 (D. Md.)]], the federal prosecution of [[Brandon Russell]], founder of [[Atomwaffen Division]], for conspiring to attack [[Baltimore Gas and Electric]] power grid substations. + +Russell's defense attorneys, [[Kobie Flowers]] and [[Ian Goldstein]], filed a motion on June 10, 2024, arguing that the government had used Section 702 in its investigation and had failed to provide FISA notice. The defense identified the specific public disclosure on which they grounded their inference: the [[ODNI]] released the document "FISA Section 702 Value Vignettes" on February 14, 2024 (intelligence.gov), which included a vignette describing an FBI investigation conducted in 2023 in which a "U.S. person query" showed that "a person located inside the U.S. was in regular contact with an unspecified foreign terrorist group, had acquired the means to conduct an attack and had already identified specific targets in the U.S." The vignette stated the FBI disrupted a "potentially imminent terrorist attack" against critical infrastructure less than a month after the person was first identified, using "iterative U.S. person queries" as the subject "shifted communications platforms."[^6] + +The defense argued that Russell's case was the only known open case matching all those disclosed particulars: a U.S. person, in regular contact with a foreign terrorist group, who had acquired attack means and identified specific infrastructure targets, and whose case was disrupted imminently. The [[American Civil Liberties Union]]'s National Security Project joined the defense for the limited purpose of pursuing the Section 702 challenge, with Ashley Gorski stating publicly that the case presented "a rare and important opportunity to challenge the government's practice of conducting warrantless 'backdoor searches' of its Section 702 databases to locate the communications of Americans."[^7] + +The government agreed to disclose, in a classified ex parte briefing before Senior U.S. District Judge [[James K. Bredar]], whether Section 702 had been used. That classified hearing took place on July 23, 2024. On August 9, 2024, Bredar issued a public order stating that he was "satisfied" the government would not use Section 702-derived evidence at trial and that "there is no basis on which to believe or suspect that the rights of the defendant have been violated in any way with respect to any government activities authorized by FISA." Bredar held that Russell was "not entitled to notice" of FISA surveillance under the applicable standard. + +Bredar's public order was notably narrow: it addressed whether FISA evidence would be used at trial, and whether notice was required in that context, but declined to resolve publicly whether Section 702 surveillance had occurred at an investigative stage prior to the FBI informant's June 2022 contact with Russell. The order left open the question of whether a Section 702-derived tip had initiated the investigation, which could constitute a "taint" even if the evidence at trial was constructed entirely through other means.[^8] + +Russell was convicted at trial in February 2025. No Fourth Circuit appeal of Bredar's Section 702 ruling had been reported as of mid-2026; the issue was not preserved for appeal in a manner that produced public docket activity. + +### Section 702 and Domestic Extremism: Documented Pattern + +The Russell challenge was the first publicly documented case in which Section 702 was raised as a legal issue in a prosecution for domestic violent extremism by a U.S. person with alleged connections to a foreign terrorist group. The theory of collection required bridging the statute's foreign-intelligence framework: Section 702 targets foreign nationals outside the United States, so for its contents to be relevant to a domestic U.S. person suspect, the connection must run through that person's communications with a targeted foreign national. + +In Russell's case, the defense theory was that the AWD successor network's connections to international neo-Nazi networks (including [[Order of Nine Angles]] figures in the United Kingdom and affiliated groups in other countries) brought the international communications under Section 702 collection, and a backdoor search of that material surfaced Russell's communications. The government neither confirmed nor denied this theory in public proceedings. + +The 2022 FISC opinion disclosing that the FBI conducted queries in connection with "domestic terrorism investigations involving racially motivated violent extremists" demonstrated that Section 702 databases had been queried in that investigative category, though whether any of those queries produced evidence used in prosecution, or produced Section 702 notice to a defendant, was not disclosed.[^3] + +### The 2024 RISAA Reauthorization + +Congress reauthorized Section 702 on April 20, 2024, through the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, extending the authority to April 20, 2026. The central reform debate was whether to require a warrant for U.S. person queries. A House floor amendment to close the backdoor search loophole, which would have required a warrant or FISA Title I order to query Americans' communications in Section 702 databases, failed by a tied 212-212 vote on April 12, 2024. The bipartisan sponsors included representatives on both the political left and right who had raised concerns about the FBI's documented history of compliance failures.[^9] + +RISAA instead codified a series of procedural requirements: supervisory approval for certain queries, annual query training for FBI personnel, enhanced oversight for "sensitive queries," and minimum accountability mechanisms for noncompliant queries. The law also required enhanced oversight by the [[DOJ Office of Inspector General]] and Congress. No provision specifically addressed Section 702 collection or querying related to domestic extremism investigations, or required notice in cases where Section 702 had been used investigatively even when the derived evidence was not introduced at trial. + +In August 2024, DOJ overseers discovered that the FBI had been using a querying tool that allowed personnel to access Section 702 data without adhering to RISAA's required procedures, a compliance failure identified after the statute's reforms were already in effect.[^10] + +### DOJ OIG Report 26-002 + +The DOJ Office of Inspector General released report 26-002, "A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Querying Practices Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," on October 2, 2025. The report found that the FBI had implemented all RISAA-required querying reforms and that the number of noncompliant queries had been substantially reduced. However, the OIG expressed concern that the total number of FBI queries had also declined sharply, with FBI and National Security Division personnel expressing worry that agents might be failing to run queries they should run, potentially missing threat information. The OIG identified four recommendations, all of which remained open as of the report's release.[^11] + +### PCLOB Oversight + +The [[Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board]] (PCLOB) released its updated oversight report on Section 702 on September 28, 2023, concluding that the program "provides unique and irreplaceable intelligence" for counterterrorism, counterproliferation, and cybersecurity missions, while also documenting significant compliance failures and pressing for additional reforms. The PCLOB conducted a separate review of the FBI's querying practices and has a pending oversight project examining the government's domestic terrorism countermeasures and their civil liberties implications across investigative programs, though that review had not produced a public report specifically addressing Section 702 and domestic violent extremism as of mid-2026.[^12] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: 50 U.S.C. § 1881a (FISA Amendments Act of 2008, Title VII, as amended). Text at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1881a; Congressional Research Service, "FISA Section 702 and the 2024 Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act," R48592. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48592 + +[^2]: ACLU, "Warrantless Surveillance Under Section 702 of FISA." https://www.aclu.org/warrantless-surveillance-under-section-702-of-fisa; ACLU, "ACLU Signs On to Defend Neo-Nazi Charged with Power Grid Plot," Baltimore Banner (republished). https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/neo-nazi-baltimore-power-grid-aclu-national-security-defense-PA277N47ANCLPAMBKAFHXNZ45U/ + +[^3]: FISC, Opinion and Order on Section 702 Recertification (April 2022), declassified and released May 2023. Summarized at EPIC, "Newly Released FISC Opinion Reveals FBI Misused FISA Section 702," https://epic.org/newly-released-fisc-opinion-reveals-fbi-misused-fisa-section-702-to-search-for-racial-justice-protestors-activist-groups-and-political-campaign-donors/; Just Security, "Key Takeaways From Latest FISA Court Opinion on Section 702 and FBI Warrantless Queries," https://www.justsecurity.org/75917/key-takeaways-from-latest-fisa-court-opinion-on-section-702-and-fbi-warrantless-queries/ + +[^4]: United States v. Hasbajrami, 945 F.3d 641 (2d Cir. 2019); United States v. Hasbajrami, 11-cr-00623 (E.D.N.Y.), Memorandum and Order (declassified Jan. 21, 2025). ACLU press release: "Court Rules Warrantless Section 702 Searches Violated the Fourth Amendment," https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/court-rules-warrantless-section-702-searches-violated-the-fourth-amendment; EFF analysis: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/victory-federal-court-finally-rules-backdoor-searches-702-data-unconstitutional + +[^5]: Just Security, "Why Aren't Criminal Defendants Getting Notice of Section 702 Surveillance - Again?" https://www.justsecurity.org/28256/arent-criminal-defendants-notice-section-702-surveillance-again/ + +[^6]: ODNI, "FISA Section 702 Value Vignettes," February 14, 2024. https://www.intelligence.gov/assets/documents/702-documents/FISA_Section_702_Vignettes-20240214_Final.pdf; Baltimore Sun, "Prosecutors will say in secret whether they used controversial spying tool against neo-Nazi accused in Baltimore power grid plot," June 27, 2024. https://www.baltimorsun.com/2024/06/27/prosecutors-will-say-in-secret-whether-they-used-controversial-spying-tool-against-neo-nazi-accused-in-baltimore-power-grid-plot/ + +[^7]: ACLU, "ACLU Signs On to Defend Neo-Nazi Charged with Power Grid Plot," via Baltimore Banner, https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/neo-nazi-baltimore-power-grid-aclu-national-security-defense-PA277N47ANCLPAMBKAFHXNZ45U/; Stars and Stripes, "Prosecutors willing to disclose in classified briefing methods used to nab neo-Nazi accused in power grid plot," June 27, 2024. https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-06-27/spying-tool-neo-nazi-baltimore-power-grid-14318849.html + +[^8]: Baltimore Banner, "FISA Evidence Won't Be Used Against Neo-Nazi Brandon Russell," August 2024. https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/brandon-russell-neo-nazi-fisa-evidence-XG2FGX6RCNEY3BPKPHQ4O27SAA/; Baltimore Sun, "Feds will not use evidence from spying program at trial of neo-Nazi accused in Baltimore power grid plot, judge finds," August 9, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/08/09/feds-evidence-spying-program-neo-nazi-accused-baltimore-power-grid-plot/ + +[^9]: House floor vote, April 12, 2024. Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, Pub. L. 118-49, enacted April 20, 2024. Congressional Research Service, R48592. Just Security, "Unpacking the FISA Section 702 Reauthorization Bill," https://www.justsecurity.org/94771/unpacking-the-fisa-section-702-reauthorization-bill/ + +[^10]: Brennan Center for Justice, "Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-702-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-act; CDT, "Four Reasons FISA 702 Still Needs a Warrant Rule for US Person Queries," https://cdt.org/insights/four-reasons-fisa-702-still-needs-a-warrant-rule-for-us-person-queries/ + +[^11]: DOJ Office of Inspector General, "A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Querying Practices Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," Report 26-002, October 2, 2025. https://oig.justice.gov/reports/review-federal-bureau-investigations-querying-practices-under-section-702-foreign + +[^12]: PCLOB, "Report on the Surveillance Program Operated Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," September 28, 2023. https://documents.pclob.gov/prod/Documents/OversightReport/054417e4-9d20-427a-9850-862a6f29ac42/2023%20PCLOB%20702%20Report%20(002).pdf; PCLOB 2026 Report: https://documents.pclob.gov/prod/Documents/OversightReport/315fe19c-07f3-4cc6-986a-ff199ce5b616/Unclassified%20PCLOB%20702%20Report%202026.pdf diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Great Replacement Theory.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Great Replacement Theory.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e32f01b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Great Replacement Theory.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Concept + - Accelerationism + - NeoNazi + - WhiteNationalism + - SaintsCulture + - AntiMuslim + - GreatReplacementTheory + - TerrorgramCollective +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "The 'Great Replacement' is a white nationalist conspiracy theory drawn from Renaud Camus's 2011 French book and operationalized by Brenton Tarrant's Christchurch manifesto as ideological justification for anti-immigrant violence, subsequently replicated by Payton Gendron and others." +--- + +"The Great Replacement" (French: *Le Grand Remplacement*) is a white nationalist conspiracy theory originating in [[Renaud Camus]]'s 2011 book of the same name, which argued that white European populations are being deliberately replaced through immigration and demographic change by non-white populations, coordinated by a globalist or Jewish elite. In the context of accelerationist neo-Nazism, the theory was adopted by [[Brenton Tarrant]] as the title and ideological framework of his 74-page manifesto before the March 15, 2019 [[2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings|Christchurch mosque shootings]], making "The Great Replacement" the most widely cited single piece of accelerationist text in the 2015-2026 period. [[Payton Gendron]] adopted the same ideological framework and manifesto title for his May 2022 [[2022 Buffalo Supermarket Shooting|Buffalo supermarket shooting]].[^1] + +### Origins in Camus + +Renaud Camus, a [[France|French]] essayist, published *Le Grand Remplacement* in 2011, arguing that French and European civilization was being destroyed through mass immigration and the reproduction rate of Muslim immigrants. Camus presented the argument as cultural analysis rather than explicit ethnic ideology, but the book circulated widely in far-right and white nationalist communities as intellectual cover for white supremacist demographic anxiety. + +The "great replacement" framework was quickly adapted by more explicitly racist and accelerationist communities, which stripped Camus's cultural-preservation framing and replaced it with explicit white nationalist and anti-Jewish conspiracy theory: the demographic change is not organic but engineered by Jewish elites seeking to destroy white civilization. + +### Tarrant's Adoption + +Brenton Tarrant's manifesto, titled "The Great Replacement" and distributed before the Christchurch attack, adopted the conspiracy theory framework explicitly, framing his attack on Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre as a defensive act against the replacement of white New Zealanders by Muslim immigrants. Tarrant's manifesto used Camus's terminology while embedding it in explicit white supremacist and accelerationist argument, calling for further attacks to "accelerate" the political conditions the author believed would produce white nationalist reconstitution. + +The manifesto's format and ideological argument became templates for subsequent attackers. [[Payton Gendron]] structured his 180-page manifesto explicitly as a continuation of Tarrant's, using the same question-and-answer format and the same Great Replacement framework, applied to Black Americans in the context of the Buffalo neighborhood he targeted.[^2] + +### Adoption Across the Inspiration Chain + +The Great Replacement framework, as operationalized by Tarrant, propagates through the documented succession of attacks: + +[[Dylann Roof]]'s 2015 Charleston manifesto expressed functionally equivalent demographic replacement anxiety about Black Americans, though without using Camus's terminology; Tarrant cited Roof's attack as a precedent. + +[[Juraj Krajčík]]'s manifesto before the 2022 Bratislava attack applied the framework to LGBTQ+ identity as a threat to traditional European civilization, extending the "replacement" concept from demographic to cultural. + +[[Cain Clark]]'s 2026 San Diego manifesto, titled "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant," explicitly invoked both Tarrant and the replacement framework in the context of anti-Muslim violence. + +The [[Terrorgram Collective]]'s publications incorporated Great Replacement ideology as the ideological justification for the accelerationist violence the network promoted, providing its European and American audience a common doctrinal framework that connected the various local targets of individual attacks into a single global campaign.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Renaud Camus. *Le Grand Remplacement*. David Reinharc, 2011; ICCT. "Christchurch Attacks and the Role of Online Propaganda." https://icct.nl/publication/christchurch-attacks-and-the-role-of-online-propaganda/ +[^2]: Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019. New Zealand Government, 2020; ADL. "Buffalo Manifesto - Analysis." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/buffalo-manifesto +[^3]: ADL. "Eco-Fascism: The Green Wing of the Far Right." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/eco-fascism-green-wing-far-right; ProPublica. "The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram." https://www.propublica.org/article/rise-and-fall-terrorgram-inside-global-online-hate-network-frontline-telegram diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Insight Roles.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Insight Roles.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d10c31c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Insight Roles.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Concept + - O9A + - OrderOfNineAngles + - SiegeCulture + - AtomwaffenDivision + - SevenFoldWay +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Insight Roles is an Order of Nine Angles doctrine prescribing that adherents commit crimes, including violence, as a required stage of spiritual development, the practice most directly connecting O9A ideology to real-world terrorism." +--- + +"Insight Roles" is a doctrinal practice of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A) prescribing that adherents undertake a series of transgressive acts, which may include violent crimes, as a required stage of initiation through O9A's [[Seven Fold Way]] initiatory system. The doctrine holds that by engaging directly with extreme or "sinister" experiences, including murder, the practitioner transcends conventional morality and develops genuine esoteric understanding unavailable to those who remain within ordinary social constraints. O9A's explicit theological framing of criminal violence as a spiritual practice is the core feature that has led governments, researchers, and prosecutors to treat O9A as categorically more dangerous than other neo-Nazi organizations that advocate violence abstractly.[^1] + +### Doctrinal Basis + +The Insight Roles doctrine appears first in *[[Naos]]: A Guide to Becoming* (1989), the foundational O9A manuscript attributed to [[David Myatt]] under his O9A alias "Anton Long," and is described in detail in *Hostia: Secret Teachings of the O.N.A.* (Volume I, 1992), which contains the text "Insight Roles - A Guide." The doctrine is also elaborated in subsequent O9A publications and on the o9a.org website. + +The conceptual framework is drawn from O9A's synthesis of neo-Nazism with Qliphothic Kabbalah and Satanism: ordinary morality is a construct of the "mundane" world that limits the practitioner's development; the path to genuine power and esoteric achievement requires direct experience with the darkest aspects of existence. An "insight role" is a prescribed activity, typically lasting between three months and a year, during which the adherent takes on a role that challenges their previous moral framework. The explicitly prescribed examples in O9A texts include: joining an organized criminal gang, joining an extremist political organization intending to commit crimes, and committing murder or acts of significant violence against persons O9A's framework designates as worthy targets (usually outgroups).[^1] + +### Criminal Prosecutions Citing Insight Roles + +O9A's Insight Roles doctrine has been cited in criminal proceedings as the ideological framework within which defendants planned or carried out attacks. + +[[Ethan Phelan Melzer]], a U.S. Army private and confirmed O9A member, was convicted in 2023 for planning the mass killing of members of his own unit while deployed in Turkey, providing operational intelligence about his unit's position and defenses to an O9A-linked group ([[RapeWaffen]]) on [[Telegram]]. Prosecutors documented his O9A affiliation and framing of the planned attack as an Insight Role in the sentencing record. He was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. + +[[Guilherme Von Neutegem]], a Toronto-area O9A adherent, fatally stabbed mosque caretaker [[Mohamed-Aslim Zafis]] outside a mosque in Rexdale, Ontario in September 2020. Investigators found an O9A altar in his residence and O9A-related social media content. He was found not criminally responsible due to schizophrenia in March 2023. + +The [[Atomwaffen Division]]'s integration of O9A doctrine (facilitated by [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]], who joined AWD in 2017) introduced Insight Roles into the AWD membership, contributing to the escalation in AWD-linked violence documented between 2017 and 2020.[^2] + +### Seven Fold Way and the O9A Practice System + +Insight Roles function within O9A's larger [[Seven Fold Way]] initiatory system, a multi-stage path through which practitioners seek to develop their personal power and esoteric understanding over years or decades. The roles are one component of this system, alongside the [[Star Game]] (a strategy game used as esoteric training), [[nexion work]] (organizational and ritual activities), and the study of O9A's extensive philosophical and fictional literature. + +The fictional component of O9A radicalization is distinct: O9A's [[Deofel Quintet]] novels (particularly *The Temple of Satan*), and the [[Tempel ov Blood]]-published *[[Iron Gates]]* (2014), all present violence and transgression in glorifying fictional framing that functions as both radicalization material and as implicit prescriptions for behavior consistent with Insight Roles doctrine. The line between fictional exploration and operational prescription is structurally blurred in O9A's presentation of the Insight Roles concept.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: O9A. *Hostia: Secret Teachings of the O.N.A.*, Volume I, 1992 (contains "Insight Roles - A Guide," originally 1989 text); ISD Global. "The Order of Nine Angles." August 2022. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/the-order-of-nine-angles/ +[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-SDNY. "Former U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Attempting to Murder Fellow Service Members." March 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-us-army-soldier-sentenced-45-years-prison-attempting-murder-fellow-service; Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ +[^3]: CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the Skull Mask Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Iron Gates.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Iron Gates.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..97f8c025 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Iron Gates.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Text + - O9A + - TemplovBlood + - MartinetPress + - AtomwaffenDivision + - NeoNazi + - Satanism + - Accelerationism + - SiegeCulture +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Iron Gates is a 2014 Martinet Press novel depicting a post-collapse race war through graphic O9A-doctrine violence, which became required reading in Atomwaffen Division and was distributed through Terrorgram channels into the wider accelerationist ecosystem." +date: 2014 +location: "United States" +--- + +*[[Iron Gates]]* is a novel published in 2014 by [[Martinet Press]], the publishing arm of [[Tempel ov Blood]], the primary American [[nexion]] (cell) of the [[Order of Nine Angles]] (O9A). Authored under the collective O9A identity rather than an individual author name, the book depicts a post-collapse race war and mass genocide through graphic ultraviolent content, including scenes of extreme sexual violence, torture, and mass killing, framed within O9A's [[Insight Roles]] doctrine as spiritually meaningful transgression. It became required reading within [[Atomwaffen Division]] following [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]]'s 2017 infiltration of AWD's leadership, and through [[Terrorgram Collective]] channels it reached the broader accelerationist ecosystem, making it the most widely distributed and cited of the Martinet Press catalog.[^1] + +### Content and O9A Doctrine + +*Iron Gates* deploys ultraviolent narrative content in service of O9A's core ideological arguments: that transgression against social norms is a form of spiritual initiation, that a race war is both desirable and inevitable, and that the committed initiate should view acts of extreme violence as spiritually necessary rather than morally illegible. The novel's scenes of mass killing, child abuse, and sexual violence are not incidental to its purpose; they function as the O9A equivalent of doctrinal instruction, normalizing the contemplation and enactment of Insight Roles through narrative immersion. + +The book was the O9A's most effective tool for reaching audiences beyond the organization's dedicated occultist base, including AWD members who had come to O9A through the [[Siege Culture|Siege]] accelerationist tradition rather than through genuine interest in occultism. Its extreme content generated significant attention from researchers and journalists covering AWD and O9A, and its circulation contributed substantially to academic and law enforcement recognition of Tempel ov Blood as an operational radicalization resource rather than merely an ideological curiosity.[^2] + +### Publication and Distribution History + +*Iron Gates* was published by [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] and his wife [[Jillian Hoy]] through Martinet Press in 2014, several years before the 2017 AWD infiltration that gave it its widest audience. In a significant paradox documented by investigative reporting, the costs of publishing *Iron Gates* and other Martinet Press titles were partially funded by Sutter's FBI informant payments, totaling more than $140,000 between 2003 and at least 2021. The FBI was simultaneously paying Sutter for intelligence work, including infiltrating AWD, while those funds supported the publication of a text that radicalized the AWD members Sutter was infiltrating.[^3] + +Following AWD's internal adoption of *Iron Gates* as required reading, the text was distributed through [[Terrorgram Collective]]'s Telegram channels to an accelerationist audience far larger than either Martinet Press or AWD's own networks could reach independently. Through this secondary distribution the book reached individuals with no prior AWD or O9A connection who encountered it as part of a broader diet of accelerationist propaganda. + +### Legal and Policy Status + +*Iron Gates* has been the subject of law enforcement attention in multiple jurisdictions. In the United Kingdom, distributing the text has been prosecuted under terrorism statutes as distributing material useful to terrorist purposes, consistent with the UK's broader approach to O9A material. In the United States, *Iron Gates* has been cited in multiple federal prosecutions as evidence of a defendant's ideological commitments and radicalization state, including cases arising from AWD and Tempel ov Blood activities.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Rolling Stone. "The Satanist Neo-Nazi Plot to Murder U.S. Soldiers." 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/ +[^2]: ICCT. "Siege Culture After Siege: Anatomy of a Neo-Nazi Terrorist Doctrine." https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2022-12/siege-culture-neo-nazi-terrorist-doctrine.pdf +[^3]: Ali Winston / Investigative reporting on Joshua Caleb Sutter / Kaleb Cole federal case documents. 2021. diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Lorebook.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Lorebook.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ebd80be3 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Lorebook.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Concept + - NVE + - NihilisticViolentExtremism + - CSAM + - ChildExploitation + - TheComNetwork +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: The Lorebook is 764 Inferno's internal currency system, consisting of curated CSAM collections coerced from victims that members trade to establish rank, the core organizational mechanism distinguishing 764's hierarchy from ideologically motivated networks. +--- + +The "Lorebook" is the internal economy of [[764 Network|764]]'s elite inner cell, [[764 Inferno]], consisting of curated collections of [[CSAM]] produced through the network's own coercive operations. Lorebook materials are traded among 764 Inferno members to establish and maintain rank within the hierarchy, with a member's Lorebook holdings functioning simultaneously as proof of their exploitation capacity, as collateral for further extortion of existing victims, and as currency for acquiring access to new victims from other members. The term is documented in federal court filings in the [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]] cases (U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, April 2025) and in the [[Baron Cain Martin]] indictment (U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, October 2025).[^1] + +### Function Within 764 + +764's organizational logic creates a continuous demand for new CSAM through the "cut sign" and "blood sign" coercion escalation model: victims are first lured into producing intimate images through social engineering, then blackmailed with those images into producing increasingly severe self-harm footage, including cutting (cut signs), drawing blood (blood signs), and in the most extreme cases, suicidal acts. The footage produced through this coercion cycle becomes Lorebook material. + +Members accumulate Lorebook holdings by demonstrating capacity to coerce victims into producing material, and by trading with other members who have their own pools of victim footage. A 764 member's Lorebook holdings establish their status within the hierarchy: high-volume or particularly severe material earns status, and access to other members' Lorebook material signals trust and standing within the inner network. + +The Lorebook economy is what researchers at [[ISD]] and the [[CNA]] have identified as 764's core organizing mechanism, distinct from ideologically motivated networks that organize around shared beliefs. Members in 764 are bound together through the mutual possession of incriminating material and through the status and access that Lorebook holdings provide, creating a network held together by complicity rather than ideology.[^2] + +### Federal Charging Theory + +The Lorebook system is why the DOJ applied the child exploitation enterprise statute (18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)) to 764 cases rather than, or alongside, simpler CSAM production charges. The "enterprise" framework requires showing that CSAM production was part of an ongoing organizational operation rather than isolated individual offenses, and the Lorebook trading economy provides the documentary basis for that organizational showing. + +[[Baron Cain Martin]]'s October 2025 indictment describes him as having "authored a detailed grooming guide advising other 764 members on how to identify, groom, and extort vulnerable juveniles," directly describing Lorebook-building methodology as an organizational practice he was actively teaching to other members. The Varagiannis and Nepal indictments describe both defendants as operating Lorebook trading systems within 764 Inferno.[^1] + +The Lorebook economy also explains the [[Nihilistic Violent Extremism]] (NVE) classification that the FBI and DOJ apply to 764: the network's primary organizing incentive is status within a criminal hierarchy achieved through harm, rather than the pursuit of political or ideological goals that defines [[Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism]] (IMVE).[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise; U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise +[^2]: ISD Global. "764: Networks of Harm." September 2025. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/764-networks-of-harm/; CNA Research. "764 and The Com: Misconceptions and Guidance." April 2026. +[^3]: Just Security. "Nihilistic Violent Extremism and American Counterterrorism." https://www.justsecurity.org/113463/nihilistic-violent-extremism-american-counterterrorism/ diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Nihilistic Violent Extremism.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Nihilistic Violent Extremism.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..29157a83 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Nihilistic Violent Extremism.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Concept + - NVE + - TheComNetwork + - FBI + - LawEnforcement +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE) is an FBI and DOJ classification for extremist violence driven by misanthropy and network status-seeking rather than unified ideology, applied to the 764 network and Com-adjacent groups to distinguish them from ideologically motivated violent extremism." +--- + +"[[Nihilistic Violent Extremism]]" (NVE) is an [[FBI]] and [[U.S. Department of Justice|DOJ]] classification category for extremist violence driven primarily by misanthropy, status-seeking within criminal networks, and nihilistic worldviews rather than unified political ideological goals. The category was developed to distinguish [[764 Network|764]], [[The Com]], and related networks from [[Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism]] (IMVE) - the category under which domestic terrorism, white nationalism, and jihadist violence are typically classified. + +The NVE classification reflects a genuine analytical distinction: 764's core operational logic centers on accumulating network status through increasingly severe acts of harm, and its membership criteria do not require ideological commitment. The FBI's Tier One/Category 1 classification of 764 as a terrorist threat while simultaneously categorizing it as NVE reflects the ambiguity: the network generates real-world violence at scale through mechanisms that do not fit the conventional terrorism model.[^1] + +### The NVE-IMVE Distinction + +Conventional domestic terrorism frameworks assume an ideologically coherent movement with defined political goals - white nationalist supremacy, religious law, anti-government insurrection. These frameworks generate specific legal tools (material support for terrorism statutes, foreign terrorist organization designations) and investigative protocols built around ideological profiling. + +764 and most Com-adjacent networks do not fit this model. Their violence is motivated by nihilism and misanthropy (harm for its own sake and for status), sadistic enjoyment, and the specific incentive structures of the "Lorebook" economy and escalating harm competitions. Perpetrators may hold neo-Nazi views, or be racists, or have no coherent ideology at all. The same network can produce both a member who attacks a mosque and a member who has no political views whatsoever and is simply exploiting vulnerable children for status within the network. + +The NVE classification allows law enforcement to bring federal terrorism charges (as DOJ did in the [[Baron Cain Martin]] indictment's terrorism count) without having to prove ideological motivation.[^2] + +### Researcher Critique + +Multiple researchers have noted that the NVE classification, while analytically useful for the core 764 phenomenon, risks obscuring genuine ideological content in specific subgroups. [[Maniac Murder Cult]] (MKY), for example, has explicitly neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology (national socialism, antisemitism, targeted race-based violence) that makes it ideologically coherent in a way that pure 764 nihilism is not. Applying the NVE label to MKY would misrepresent the organization and potentially hamper counterterrorism responses designed for IMVE. + +PolitiFact (October 2025) documented experts cautioning against treating "NVE" as a catch-all that obscures the ideological variation within the broader Com ecosystem. The [[CTC West Point]] analysis of MKY (Argentino, Gay, Bastin, 2024) specifically distinguishes MKY from "nihilistic NVE" networks on the basis of MKY's explicit ideological coherence.[^3] + +### Legal Application + +The first application of the federal material support for terrorism statute against a 764 Network member was in the April 2026 indictment of [[Baron Cain Martin]] in the District of Arizona, which included a terrorism charge alongside 28 other counts. This application (treating 764 as a terrorist organization for purposes of the material support statute) was novel; prior 764 prosecutions had used child exploitation, cyberstalking, and RICO statutes without terrorism charges. + +The DOJ's increasing use of terrorism frameworks for NVE cases reflects both the severity of the harm being caused and the limits of existing child exploitation law in addressing the network's broader organizing and incitement functions.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Just Security. "Nihilistic Violent Extremism and American Counterterrorism." https://www.justsecurity.org/113463/nihilistic-violent-extremism-american-counterterrorism/ +[^2]: ISD. "From sextortion to violence: The threat of the 764 network in the US." https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/from-sextortion-to-violence-the-evolving-threat-of-the-764-network-in-the-us/ +[^3]: Argentino, Gay, Bastin. "Nihilism and Terror: How M.K.Y. Is Redefining Terrorism." CTC Sentinel, August/September 2024. https://ctc.westpoint.edu/nihilism-and-terror-how-m-k-y-is-redefining-terrorism-recruitment-and-mass-violence/ +[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..63c27c11 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act.md @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +--- +category: "Intelligence Concept" +tags: + - Concept + - Legislation + - FISA + - Section702 + - Surveillance + - NationalSecurity + - CivilLiberties + - FourthAmendment + - Congress + - FBI + - BackdoorSearch +created: 2026-05-22 +updated: 2026-05-22 +summary: "The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), enacted April 20, 2024, reauthorized FISA Section 702 through April 20, 2026, codified modest procedural reforms to FBI querying practices, and defeated a bipartisan warrant amendment by a 212-212 tied House vote." +--- + +The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), Pub. L. 118-49, was enacted on April 20, 2024, reauthorizing [[Section 702]] of the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] through April 20, 2026. It represented Congress's response to a documented period of significant compliance failures in the [[FBI]]'s warrantless querying of [[Section 702]] databases, following the disclosure through declassified [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]] (FISC) opinions that the FBI had conducted more than 278,000 non-compliant U.S. person queries between approximately 2020 and early 2022. + +### Legislative History + +The bill emerged from competing proposals backed by the House Judiciary Committee, which favored substantial reforms including a warrant requirement for backdoor searches, and the House Intelligence Committee, which backed more modest procedural changes. House leadership presented RISAA as a compromise. + +The central contested issue was whether to require the government to obtain a warrant or FISA Title I order before querying Section 702 databases using a U.S. person identifier. A House floor amendment to impose this warrant requirement, with bipartisan sponsorship, failed by a tied vote of 212-212 on April 12, 2024. This was the closest Congress had come to imposing a warrant requirement on Section 702 backdoor searches since the program was created by the [[FISA Amendments Act of 2008]]. + +Three House Intelligence Committee amendments expanded Section 702's scope: an expansion of the "facilities" covered by collection directives (passed 236-186), an authority for using Section 702 data in immigration vetting (passed 227-193), and an authority for counter-narcotics purposes (passed 268-152). A House Judiciary Committee amendment requiring enhanced reporting on U.S. person queries passed 269-153. The base bill passed the House 273-147 with bipartisan splits in both directions.[^1] + +### Reforms Enacted + +RISAA codified the following procedural requirements: + +Supervisory approval for certain U.S. person queries. Annual query training for all FBI personnel. Enhanced oversight for "sensitive queries" (queries touching on categories such as elected officials, religious figures, and journalists). Minimum accountability mechanisms for personnel who conduct noncompliant queries, including documentation requirements and notice to supervisors. Enhanced oversight authority for the [[DOJ Office of Inspector General]] and Congress, including the right to review FBI query logs. Requirements that the FBI notify the FISC of significant compliance failures on a defined schedule. + +RISAA did not impose a warrant requirement for any category of U.S. person query. It did not restrict the use of Section 702 data in domestic investigations generally, and it contained no provision specifically addressing queries related to domestic extremism investigations or the notification of criminal defendants when Section 702 collection had occurred at an investigative stage but was not introduced at trial.[^2] + +### Post-Enactment Compliance Issues + +In August 2024, DOJ overseers discovered that the FBI had been using a querying tool that bypassed RISAA's required approval procedures, allowing personnel to access Section 702 data without adhering to the statutory safeguards. This was identified within months of the statute's enactment. The [[Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board]] (PCLOB) and the DOJ OIG continued oversight of FBI compliance with RISAA's requirements, with the OIG releasing report 26-002 in October 2025 finding that while noncompliant query volume had declined substantially, the overall decline in query volume raised concerns about whether agents were conducting queries they should be running.[^3] + +### 2026 Sunset + +Section 702 is set to sunset on April 20, 2026, absent further reauthorization. As of mid-2026, the debate over a warrant requirement for U.S. person queries remained unresolved in Congress, with the [[United States v. Hasbajrami|Hasbajrami]] district court's January 2025 ruling (imposing a warrant requirement in the Second Circuit) adding judicial pressure to the legislative deliberations. + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: House floor vote, April 12, 2024. Congressional Research Service, "FISA Section 702 and the 2024 Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act," R48592. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48592; Just Security, "Unpacking the FISA Section 702 Reauthorization Bill," https://www.justsecurity.org/94771/unpacking-the-fisa-section-702-reauthorization-bill/; Lawfare, "House Passes Section 702 Reauthorization," https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/house-passes-section-702-reauthorization + +[^2]: Pub. L. 118-49, signed April 20, 2024. CRS R48592. CDT, "Four Reasons FISA 702 Still Needs a Warrant Rule for US Person Queries," https://cdt.org/insights/four-reasons-fisa-702-still-needs-a-warrant-rule-for-us-person-queries/ + +[^3]: Brennan Center for Justice, "Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-702-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-act; DOJ OIG, Report 26-002, October 2, 2025. https://oig.justice.gov/reports/review-federal-bureau-investigations-querying-practices-under-section-702-foreign diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Saints Culture.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Saints Culture.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f62136a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Saints Culture.md @@ -0,0 +1,53 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Concept + - SaintsCulture + - TerrorgramCollective + - AtomwaffenDivision + - Accelerationism + - NeoNazi +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Saints Culture is the accelerationist neo-Nazi practice of venerating mass killers as martyred exemplary figures, systematized by the Terrorgram Collective into a trading-card propaganda operation designed to inspire successive attacks through documented inspiration chains." +--- + +"[[Saints Culture]]" is the accelerationist neo-Nazi practice of treating mass killers who act in the name of white nationalist or neo-Nazi ideology as martyred exemplary figures - "saints" - to be venerated, studied, and emulated. The concept emerged within [[Iron March]] and [[Atomwaffen Division]] from approximately 2015 onward, drawing on [[Siege Culture|Siege]]-derived logic that lone-wolf attackers are the authentic revolutionary vanguard. The [[Terrorgram Collective]] systematized it into an explicit propaganda operation, producing trading-card-style graphics ("saint cards") memorializing each new attacker and circulating them through [[Telegram]] channels to inspire subsequent attacks. The feedback loop is deliberate: each saint's attack is documented, glorified, and promoted to the network to produce the next one.[^1] + +### Origins in AWD and Iron March + +The "saint" framing is implicit in [[James Mason]]'s [[Siege]] writings - which treat lone-wolf attackers as the only genuine revolutionaries - but the specific saints tradition as a named practice developed through the Iron March forum community and was amplified by AWD's adoption of Mason's text as foundational. AWD members circulated promotional material featuring mass killers from the broader white nationalist tradition (Dylan Roof, Robert Bowers, etc.) as models for emulation. + +The arrival of [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] and [[Tempel ov Blood]]'s [[Order of Nine Angles|O9A]] influence in 2017 layered mystical language onto the political veneration: O9A's "Insight Roles" doctrine frames violent crimes as spiritual initiation, making the saint who commits mass murder not just a political revolutionary but an initiated spiritual figure. This theological dimension intensified the veneration within AWD and its successor networks.[^2] + +### Terrorgram's Systematization + +[[Terrorgram Collective]] co-founders [[Pavol Beňadik]] and [[Matthew Althorpe]] built saints culture into the network's operational core. Terrorgram's three major publications - *Militant Accelerationism* (2021), *Do It For The Gram* (2021), and *The Hard Reset* (2022) - each engaged extensively with the saints framework, documenting previous attackers and framing new ones as continuing a sacred tradition. + +The visual propaganda format became the most widely distributed artifact: after each new attack, Terrorgram channels rapidly produced stylized graphics in a consistent format - attacker's image, name, date, body count, formatted as a commemorative card - and circulated them through Telegram's sharing architecture to hundreds of channels simultaneously. The saint card for the next attacker would reference the previous saint, creating a documented chain of inspiration. + +[[Brenton Tarrant]]'s [[2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings|Christchurch attack]] (March 15, 2019) was the founding reference point for Terrorgram specifically. Beňadik and Althorpe co-founded the collective in the summer of 2019 explicitly in response to Christchurch, framing it as the template for what an accelerationist attack could accomplish and should inspire. + +The first attack directly attributed to Terrorgram's mentorship pipeline was the [[Juraj Krajčík|October 2022 Bratislava LGBTQ+ bar shooting]] by Juraj Krajčík, whom Beňadik had directly mentored from age 16. Krajčík was immediately canonized as Terrorgram's "first saint" with a saint card circulated through the network's channels.[^3] + +### Documented Inspiration Chains + +The saints culture model creates traceable chains of inspiration across attacks: + +[[Brenton Tarrant]] cited Dylann Roof's 2015 Charleston church shooting as an influence. Tarrant's Christchurch attack then became the foundational "saint" for Terrorgram and for subsequent attackers including [[Payton Gendron]] (Buffalo, May 2022), who explicitly cited Tarrant in his manifesto, and [[Cain Clark]] (San Diego, May 2026), whose manifesto was titled "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant." + +[[Juraj Krajčík]] cited Gendron as his "final nudge" before the Bratislava attack. [[Nikita Casap]] cited Krajčík's writings as an influence before his February 2025 Wisconsin murders. Each link in the chain is documented.[^4] + +### Law Enforcement Response + +The systematic documentation of saints culture is central to terrorism prosecutions of Terrorgram members. Courts in Canada, the United States, and Slovakia have all accepted prosecution arguments that Terrorgram's saint card propaganda constitutes material support for terrorism: the cards are treated not as protected speech but as operational incitement directed at a specific network of potential attackers primed to act on them. + +[[Matthew Althorpe]]'s Canadian sentencing (March 27, 2026) and [[Dallas Humber]]'s U.S. sentencing (December 19, 2025) both specifically addressed the saints culture material as evidence that the publications were designed to produce real-world violence rather than to express abstract ideology.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ADL. "Terrorgram Collective: International Terrorists Promoting Violence and White Supremacy." https://www.adl.org/resources/article/terrorgram-collective-international-terrorists-promoting-violence-and-white +[^2]: Bellingcat. "How Atomwaffen Became A Neo-Nazi Terror Group." https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2018/11/19/how-atomwaffen-division-became-a-neo-nazi-terror-group/ +[^3]: RSIS. "Bratislava Shooting: The Making of Terrorgram's First Saint." https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/rsis/bratislava-shooting-the-making-of-terrorgrams-first-saint/ +[^4]: ProPublica. "Telegram, Terrorgram Collective, Bratislava Murders." https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate +[^5]: Public Prosecution Service of Canada. "PPSC Sentencing Announcement, Matthew Althorpe." March 27, 2026. https://www.ppsc.gc.ca/eng/nws-nvs/2026/27_03_26.html diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Seven Fold Way.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Seven Fold Way.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0c0c151e --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Seven Fold Way.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Concept + - O9A + - OrderOfNineAngles + - InsightRoles + - Initiation +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "The Seven Fold Way is the Order of Nine Angles' seven-stage initiatory system, progressing from Initiate to Immortal through prescribed ordeals including Insight Roles, giving O9A a structure that embeds criminal violence as a spiritual requirement for advancement." +--- + +The "Seven Fold Way" (also called the "Sevenfold Way") is the [[Order of Nine Angles]]' seven-stage initiatory path, described in *[[Naos]]: A Guide to Becoming* (1989) and elaborated throughout O9A's published literature. The path progresses from Initiate to Immortal across stages corresponding to the traditional seven planets of Hermetic and Kabbalistic cosmology (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn). Each stage involves a set of prescribed ordeals, practices, and tests including extended solo outdoor survival exercises, [[Insight Roles]] (transgressive and criminal acts undertaken as spiritual development), and prolonged engagement with O9A's [[nexion|nexion]] (cell) activities. The Seven Fold Way's structure gives O9A a distinct organizational logic: individual practitioners work toward advancement over long time horizons, with real-world criminal and violent acts embedded as requirements rather than encouraged as optional.[^1] + +### The Seven Stages + +The stages of the Seven Fold Way, with their planetary correspondences, are: + +1. Initiate (Moon): entry stage, introduction to O9A texts and community +2. External Adept (Mercury): formation of a nexion, physical training, first Insight Roles +3. Internal Adept (Venus): three-month solo "camlad" outdoor survival ordeal, sustained nexion work, advanced Insight Roles +4. Master/Mistress (Sun): leadership of a nexion, advanced practice +5. Grand Master/Grand Lady Master (Mars): leadership across multiple nexions +6. Magus (Jupiter): theoretical and philosophical contribution to the O9A corpus +7. Immortal (Saturn): final eschatological stage, rarely claimed + +The most practically significant transition for law enforcement purposes is the move from External Adept to Internal Adept, which requires the completion of at least one major Insight Role. O9A texts prescribe that Insight Roles should be "sinister" acts that would be judged criminal by mainstream society and that confront the practitioner with genuine danger, harm to others, or transgression of fundamental moral norms.[^1] + +### Physical Ordeals + +The Internal Adept stage requires a "camlad" or "camladan" - a period of approximately three months living alone outdoors, without permanent shelter, in a geographically isolated area. The ordeal is framed as a test of the practitioner's survival capacity and as a means of confronting the raw reality of existence stripped of civilizational comforts. O9A texts present the successful completion of the camlad as producing a fundamental transformation in the practitioner's psychological and spiritual constitution. + +Physical fitness and outdoor survival are emphasized throughout the path, distinguishing O9A from purely text-based extremist traditions. The emphasis on physical capability connects O9A practice to the fitness culture valorized by [[Atomwaffen Division]] and by the Active Club network associated with post-AWD accelerationist organizing.[^2] + +### Violence as Initiatory Practice + +The Seven Fold Way's structure means that serious violence is prescribed as a required element of advancement rather than presented as an optional expression of ideology. This distinguishes O9A from organizations like [[Atomwaffen Division]] (which advocates violence abstractly) or [[Terrorgram Collective]] (which produces propaganda intended to inspire violence). An O9A adherent pursuing the Seven Fold Way is prescribed to commit violence as a personal spiritual requirement, independent of any organizational directive. + +[[Ethan Phelan Melzer]]'s 2020 plot to facilitate an ISIS attack on his own Army unit was explicitly framed in O9A doctrinal terms in his communications with an undercover FBI operative: the planned mass killing of his fellow soldiers was his Insight Role for advancing through the Seven Fold Way initiatory stages.[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: O9A. *Naos: A Guide to Becoming*, 1989 (127 pp., first major O9A manuscript); O9A. "Insight Roles, the Seven Fold Way, and the O9A." Published on o9a.org. +[^2]: ISD Global. "The Order of Nine Angles." August 2022. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/the-order-of-nine-angles/ +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-SDNY. "Former U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Attempting to Murder Fellow Service Members." March 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-us-army-soldier-sentenced-45-years-prison-attempting-murder-fellow-service diff --git a/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Siege Culture.md b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Siege Culture.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ffe96e57 --- /dev/null +++ b/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/Siege Culture.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +--- +category: "Ideology" +tags: + - Concept + - Accelerationism + - NeoNazi + - JamesMason + - IronMarch + - AtomwaffenDivision + - LoneWolf + - SiegeCulture +created: 2026-05-21 +updated: 2026-05-21 +summary: "Siege Culture is the accelerationist neo-Nazi ideological ecosystem organized around James Mason's collected writings, which advocate leaderless resistance and lone-wolf violence, adopted as foundational doctrine by Atomwaffen Division and circulated into successor networks by Iron March and Terrorgram Collective." +--- + +"[[Siege Culture]]" describes the accelerationist neo-Nazi ideological ecosystem organized around [[James Mason]]'s collected writings, which appeared as a newsletter titled *[[Siege]]* from approximately 1980 to 1986 and were compiled into a book of the same name in 1992. The term reflects both the direct influence of Mason's text and the broader organizational logic the text promotes: that conventional political activity is futile, that legal methods have failed, and that only individual acts of violence carried out independently by committed actors will precipitate the collapse of the existing political order. The rediscovery and aggressive promotion of *Siege* by [[Iron March]] members beginning in 2015, followed by its adoption as mandatory reading within [[Atomwaffen Division]], made it one of the foundational texts of the post-Iron March neo-Nazi accelerationist ecosystem.[^1] + +### Mason's Writings and the "Leaderless Resistance" Doctrine + +Mason developed his analysis through the newsletter as a member of the [[National Socialist Liberation Front]] and later the [[World Union of National Socialists]], writing from a position of frank despair about the prospects of conventional neo-Nazi electoral politics. His core argument held that mass organizations were inherently compromised by infiltration, infighting, and the practical impossibility of building a coherent movement under conditions of democratic surveillance. The alternative he proposed drew on [[Louis Beam]]'s concept of "leaderless resistance": individual cells or lone actors, operating without organizational direction that could be disrupted by federal law enforcement, carrying out attacks against symbolic or strategic targets. + +*Siege*'s operational argument treated violence as the only authentic revolutionary act available to true believers in the contemporary United States. Mason dismissed legal activities, electoral participation, and organizing around mass movements as forms of collaboration with the system. The text framed the lone-wolf attacker (someone who plans and executes a political murder independently) as the only genuinely revolutionary figure available in the current historical moment.[^2] + +### Rediscovery via Iron March + +*Siege* had a limited first-circulation audience and was largely unknown outside a narrow segment of the American neo-Nazi underground when [[Iron March]] began circulating it aggressively around 2015. Iron March members, organized around the theoretical platform developed by [[Alisher Mukhitdinov]] ("Alexander Slavros"), explicitly promoted Mason's text as a corrective to what they framed as the strategic bankruptcy of older American white nationalism. The forum's international neo-Nazi community treated *Siege* as an operational manual alongside the forum's own publications. + +[[Brandon Russell]] announced [[Atomwaffen Division]] on Iron March on October 12, 2015, with explicit framing that placed *Siege*'s leaderless-resistance doctrine at AWD's organizational core. AWD became the primary institutional carrier of Siege Culture, treating Mason's text as mandatory reading and framing its members' real-world violence as the practical implementation of Mason's strategic vision.[^1] + +### AWD, Tempel ov Blood, and Satanic Inflection + +When [[Tempel ov Blood]] leader [[Joshua Caleb Sutter]] joined AWD in 2017 under the alias "swissdiscipline," he brought with him the [[Order of Nine Angles|O9A]]'s framework of "Insight Roles" - the doctrine that committing real crimes, including violent ones, constitutes spiritual initiation. The merger of Mason's leaderless resistance logic with O9A's occultist violence-as-initiation framework produced the specific character of AWD's late period: an organization that combined *Siege*'s strategic argument with O9A mysticism around violence as transformation. + +Sutter's [[Martinet Press]] published [[Iron Gates]] (2014) and other O9A texts through this period, partly funded by FBI informant payments Sutter was receiving while simultaneously radicalizing AWD members he was nominally helping to monitor. The O9A texts circulated through AWD as complementary reading alongside *Siege*, producing an ideological synthesis in which Mason's politics and O9A's occultism mutually reinforced each other.[^3] + +### Post-AWD Diffusion + +After AWD's partial disruption through federal prosecutions beginning in 2018, Siege Culture continued through successor networks. The [[Terrorgram Collective]] cited *Siege* as foundational, produced its own publications explicitly building on Mason's framework, and extended "Siege Culture" into a global ecosystem through [[Telegram]]. The "[[Saints Culture]]" framework (in which mass killers are venerated as exemplary figures and distributed as trading-card-style graphics) is a direct extension of Mason's logic: that individual violent actors are the authentic revolutionary vanguard. + +Mason himself maintained a public profile into the 2020s, gave interviews, and maintained contact with the networks that had adopted his work, while publicly claiming to disavow some of the more extreme applications. His actual relationship with AWD and its successors was a subject of ongoing attention from researchers.[^4] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: ProPublica / PBS Frontline. "Armed and Dangerous." 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-armed-and-dangerous +[^2]: SPLC. "James Mason." Extremist Files. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/james-mason +[^3]: Bellingcat. "How Atomwaffen Became A Neo-Nazi Terror Group." https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2018/11/19/how-atomwaffen-division-became-a-neo-nazi-terror-group/ +[^4]: Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/