Filed under: Anti-fascist, This Week in Fascism
Welcome, fellow antifascists!
This week, we’ve got a neo-Nazi killed by the FBI while trying to bomb a hospital in a coronavirus-related attack, a Proud Boys affiliate becoming the new Chair of the Young Republicans, evidence that “former” neo-Nazi Jeff Schoep never actually stopped being a neo-Nazi, doxxes of members of the Feuerkrieg Division, the Proud Boys, and the KKK.
Without further ado, let’s begin!
News
Neo-Nazi Who Tried to Bomb Missouri Hospital Had Ties to National Socialist Movement, Vonherrschaft Division, and Feuerkrieg Division
1. NEW: The Informant has learned that a man who was plotting to blow up a hospital in Missouri had ties to two active neo-Nazi groups. https://t.co/C6MEq0QEQH
— Nick Martin (@nickmartin) March 26, 2020
Timothy Wilson was killed by the FBI on Tuesday, after attempting to set off a car bomb at a Kansas hospital.
Shortly after news of his death was announced, an investigation by journalist Nick Martin and Elon University researcher Megan Squire revealed that he was an active member of the Telegram chats for neo-Nazi groups the National Socialist Movement and the Vonherrschaft Division, where he posted under the handle “Werwolfe 84.”
Anthony Petruccelli with Theodor Junker, a former SS soldier
After Bowl Patrol leader “Vic Mackey” informed the NSM chat that Wilson was a member, NSM member Anthony Petruccelli replied with “R.I.P. Tim. Your a ‘Solid Brother.’ I’ll See You Someday in Valhalla 88.” Petruccelli has a number of connections to the broader far-Right, selling official t-shirts and marching with a Super Happy Fun America banner at Boston’s Straight Pride Parade, attending a Connecticut banner drop organized by Patriot Front leader Kieran Morris, and serving as a mentor for the New England members of The Base.
Former NSM leader Jeff Schoep, who claims to have renounced his neo-Nazi past, tweeted “#Extremist plan to #bomb Missouri Hospital. Thankful this was stopped! COVID19 #coronavirus #terrorism.” However, he quickly began blocking commenters who pointed out that recent Sines v. Kessler filings reveal that he’s still involved with the group, warning them about people he believes to be federal informants, and that Schoep’s girlfriend still runs the NSM website. (H/t to researcher Shawn Breen.)
1/ Timothy Wilson, a member of the National Socialist Movement, tried to bomb a hospital yesterday.
Last night, Anthony Petruccelli, who sold t-shirts and carried a banner for Super Happy Fun America's Straight Pride Parade, was celebrating him, calling him a "Solid Brother." pic.twitter.com/OO9hkTh21p
— AntiFash Gordon (@AntiFashGordon) March 26, 2020
Wilson had been under FBI surveillance for months, following the September 2019 arrest of Feuerkrieg and Misanthropic Division member William Jarrett Smith, whom Wilson provided bomb-making instructions to. Smith, an Army Private in Kansas, was arrested for planning attacks against former Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, CNN offices, and the home of I Don’t Speak German podcaster Daniel Harper.
Three Percenter Sentenced to 25 Years for Planned Bombing of Oklahoma City Bank
Threeper Jerry Varnell got 25 years for a plot to blow up a bank in Oklahoma City https://t.co/s1z8oB8tTI
— Jason Wilson (@jason_a_w) March 24, 2020
Jerry Varnell, a 26-year-old member of the Three Percenter militia movement, was sentenced to 25 years this week for the attempted bombing of an Oklahoma City bank.
In 2017, Varnell attempted to copy Timothy McVeigh’s deadly 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building that killed 168 people. Following an undercover operation by federal investigators, Varnell attempted to detonate what he believed to be a half-ton ammonium nitrate explosive device packed into a van outside the Oklahoma City BancFirst building.
Buckey Wolfe, Proud Boy Who Killed His Brother with a Sword, Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity
So I think I'm the first one to notice that Buckey Wolfe, the alleged Proud Boy who killed his brother with a sword, was acquitted by reason of insanity. pic.twitter.com/Pe3ls8HRHp
— Russian Active Measure (@EmilyGorcenski) March 27, 2020
Buckey Wolfe, a former Proud Boy, was found Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity this week, after killing his brother with a sword in January 2019. Wolfe believed that his brother was a “lizard person,” an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory advanced by David Icke.
While the Proud Boys claimed that Wolfe was never a member in an official statement on their website, Wolfe’s social media shows him taking the pledge required of First Degree members in February 2018, protesting with Proud Boys members at far-Right rallies in the Pacific Northwest, and interacting with members of the Proud Boys.
Additionally, a May 2018 report from his psychiatrist noted that Wolfe was “[e]njoying his time spent in the Proud Boy movement… [h]e feels less lonely and more involved now that he meets with the Proud Boys.”
Proud Boys Supporter Gavin Wax Appointed Chair of the Young Republican National Federation
Let's see what's going on w/ the Young Republicans these days, shall we? Last week, Gavin Wax, the NY Young Republican President, was appointed the Chair of the Young Republican National Federation. He has ties to Proud Boys, other bigots, and international Far-Right parties pic.twitter.com/952VM6QLyP
— New York City Antifa (@NYCAntifa) March 28, 2020
Gavin Wax, the President of the New York Young Republican Club, was recently appointed Chair of the Young Republican National Federation, more commonly known as the Young Republicans.
In October 2018, Wax organized Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes’ speech at the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan, where McInnes reenacted the murder of a Japanese socialist. Shortly after the speech, a group of ten Proud Boys and supporters surrounded three protesters and attacked them. Those charged with the attack included Wax’s co-organizer, Jake Freijo, who pleaded guilty to the assault, as well as Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, who were convicted after their attorney argued that the Manhattan DA’s office had engaged in a conspiracy with antifascists. Hare and Kinsman are currently serving four years for their roles in the beating.
The Schpiel
Wax currently serves as the publisher of The Schpiel, a far-Right site whose Twitter account threatened to lynch Shaun King and suggested that Trump suspend elections and institute martial law in 2018. The account was eventually banned in 2019.
Wax has used his tenure as President of the Young Republicans to organize speeches by Michelle Malkin, who has long contributed to the white nationalist site VDARE since 2002 and recently voiced her support and spoke alongside Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. Wax has also supported anti-Islam activist Pamela Geller, who has frequently aligned herself with white nationalists; as well as Alt-Lite personalities Jack Posobiec and Joey Salads.
“Former” National Socialist Movement Leader Jeff Schoep Hasn’t Left the Neo-Nazi Movement
— Idavox (@IdavoxOPP) March 29, 2020
Idavox, the news site of the One People’s Project, reported Jeff Schoep, the former leader of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, appears to still be involved in the group, despite claims that he’s renounced the far-Right.
Recent filings in Sines v. Kessler, the lawsuit over Unite the Right, show that not only has Schoep consistently failed to produce the documents the court has requested from him, but that he maintains contact with Burt Colucci, the current leader of the NSM, to warn him about federal infiltration. Additionally, Schoep’s girlfriend, Acacia Dietz, still edits the NSM website and is listed as the registered agent for the NSM’s nonprofit license.
Since claiming to have left the National Socialist Movement, Schoep has been working with “countering violent extremism” group Light Upon Light, headed by Jesse Morton, a former Al Qaeda recruiter turned FBI informant. In a statement written for Light Upon Light, Schoep attacked deplatforming efforts by antifascists, claiming that they lead to violence.
Despite these claims of reform, Schoep has recently been working with The Clarion Project, an anti-Islam organization designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Doxxes
“Swerveinstinct,” Feuerkrieg Division Member in New Brunswick, Canada
"Swerveinstinct" is the new leader of the North American cell of Feuerkrieg Division. He is a security guard at a mall and lives in New Brunswick, Canada. #FuKD https://t.co/ch3VRSYEm9 pic.twitter.com/iMc0NFJ8wE
— EUG161 (@161EUG) March 24, 2020
Eugene Antifa exposed Feuerkrieg Division’s “Swerveinstinct,” a Security Guard at a mall in New Brunswick, Canada. In the fall of 2019, he flyered a local university to recruit for the neo-Nazi accelerationist group.
In the fall of 2019, the group suffered the arrests of several of its members, including Conor Climo, who planned to bomb Anti-Defamation League offices and a gay nightclub in Las Vegas, and William Jarrett Smith, who planned attacks against Beto O’Rourke, CNN, and podcaster Daniel Harper, but did not slow its recruiting.
However, now that independent media outlet Unicorn Riot has published the leaked chats of the group, FKD members are jumping ship. Eugene Antifa reported that the North American branch is currently five members, four of whom are in the United States.
Robert Timothy Dickenson, KKK Supporter in Hiawassee, Georgia
NEW ARTICLE:
"Robert Timothy Dickenson: Klan Supporter in North Georgia’s 'American Patriots USA'"Hiawassee-based KKK supporter Tim Dickenson is a core member of north GA's "American Patriots USA". https://t.co/aYdBgsBl5k#DahlonegaGA #LumpkinCounty #HiawasseeGA #TownsCounty pic.twitter.com/YJOJBFvYjh
— Atlanta Antifascists (@afainatl) March 27, 2020
Atlanta Antifascists identified Robert Timothy Dickenson, of Hiawassee, Georgia, this week, as a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and a core member of white supremacist group, American Patriots USA, which is led by long time white nationalist organizer, Chester Doles.
Dickensen attended the October 2019 Gold Rush Parade, accompanying the American Patriots USA float, wearing an International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan sweatshirt. Based on social media posts from Doles, Dickensen may also be tied to the Christian Identity movement in Hiawassee.
If you have additional information on Dickensen, please contact Atlanta Antifascists.
Aaron Matthew Sturm, Proud Boy in Lapeer, Michigan
Aaron Matthew Sturm is a Proud Boy from Roseville, MI who hangs out with previously featured fascists Russel Clark Horan Jr, Kyle Smith and Morgan Bolles. pic.twitter.com/1VHSpN1qyV
— Vigilant AFA (@AfaVigilant) March 25, 2020
Vigilant AFA exposed Aaron Matthew Sturm, a Proud Boy in Lapeer, Michigan.
In August 2019, Sturm attended a Proud Boys rally outside the Farmington Holocaust Memorial Center, where the group flashed white nationalist symbols.
Any tips on Sturm can be DM’d to @AfaVigilant.
Lewis Lafever, Proud Boy in Northglenn, Colorado
Meet Lewis Lafever of Northglenn Colorado. He is a member of the @splcenter designated hate group the "Proud Boys" pic.twitter.com/ZAgf977TX4
— Death Cab For Scooby (@CabScooby) March 28, 2020
Death Cab for Scooby exposed Lewis Lafever, a Proud Boy in Northglenn, Colorado.
Kevin Stover, Proud Boy in Denver, Colorado
Hello everyone! I've been seeing a lot of talk from right wing grifter and Proud Boy @/StoverLove lately, and I think it's time to know who we're actually dealing with. Say hello to Kevin Stover of Denver, Colorado :-).!! Proud Boy and neo-Nazi apologist!
1/ pic.twitter.com/QncFMlNotC— Garfield but Anti-Fascist (@AntifaGarfield) March 28, 2020
Antifa Garfield exposed Kevin Stover, a Proud Boy in Denver, Colorado, one of the administrators of the Proud Boys’ Mass Reporting and Retweet Telegram channel. Despite the Proud Boys’ claim that they believe in absolute free speech, the goal of the channel is to support the far-Right by getting antifascist researchers and journalists kicked off of Twitter.
In November, journalist Elizabeth King wrote about getting banned from Twitter after a mass reporting campaign from the hate group. Two weeks ago, the channel claimed credit for the suspension of the Twitter account for the Jewish Worker, an independent leftist publication.
As leader of the Proud Boys launches run for Congress, his followers are mass reporting activists + journalists to stop them from exposing paramilitary neo-Nazi groups like Atomwaffen. We talk to @elizabotking + @JewishWorker about how they were targeted. https://t.co/rqsNQYVaWH
— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) November 22, 2019
The channel has also expressed its support for Chris “Crying Nazi” Cantwell; neo-Nazi accelerationist group The Base, three of whose members are currently facing attempted murder charges in Georgia; the Iron March forum that birthed the Atomwaffen Division, linked to five murders; the Ku Klux Klan; neo-Nazi group Patriot Front; white nationalist group Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement; and the neo-Nazi Shieldwall Network.