Posted: May 14, 2012 | Author: John P | Filed under: American Front, Dylan Rettenmaier, Florida, Jennifer McGowen, Marcus Faella, Mark McGowan, Nazi, Patricia Faella, white supremacist | Tags: American Front, Dylan Rettenmaier, Florida, Jennifer McGowen, Marcus Faella, Mark McGowan, Nazi, Patricia Faella, white supremacist |
Members of the American Front – a well-armed, militia-style white supremacist group in Florida – were planning acts of violence and preparing for “an inevitable race war” when 11 of them were arrested last week, court documents say.
The documents, the outgrowth of a two-year investigation, also say American Front members received paramilitary training at a fortified compound near St. Cloud, Fla., from one of its Missouri members who is a U.S. military reservist. He was not among those arrested.
The American Front compound is on 10 acres in Florida’s Osceola County and is owned by group leader Marcus Faella, 39, and his wife, Patricia, 36, who were among those arrested on state charges of conducting illegal paramilitary training, attempting to shoot into an occupied dwelling, and prejudice while committing a crime.
Marcus Faella was “working intently” to turn the property, which adjoins the sprawling woodlands and wetlands of the Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area, into an “Aryan compound where all the AF members could live when the United States Government fails,” the court documents say.
The property, which features fortified gun entrenchments, is surrounded by barbed wire and protected by guard dogs. In a mobile home where the Faellas lived, Marcus Faella “reinforced the walls and has cut firing ports out of the sides,” the documents say.
The documents describe the American Front as a “militia-styled, anti-Semitic, white supremacist, skinhead organization (that) is a known domestic terrorist organization.”
“Marcus Faella has been planning and preparing the AF for what he believes to be an inevitable race war” and has been stockpiling ammunition, water and other supplies, the court document says. Members also were making ghillie suits to better conceal themselves during paramilitary maneuvers in addition to homemade body armor, it adds.
Faella, who considers himself and other American Front members “as the protectors of the white race,” has said his intention “during the race war is to kill Jews, immigrants and other minorities,” the document says.
Full-fledged or “patched members” of the American Front were required to undergo regular training at the compound, where classes were conducted on firearms, explosives and military tactics.
At a training session in February, Faella reported on another American Front chapter in Oregon and how it was expanding, with its members purchasing AK-47 assault rifles and conducting paramilitary training, the document says.
“During shooting drills, Faella would use jugs of water and told participants to visualize the jugs being nigger’s [sic] heads while they were shooting at them,” the document says. He “also would make threatening remarks toward Jewish people while conducting combat training.”
Faella also was making “plans for members of AF to go out and cause disturbances” in various communities, including at the Orlando City Hall and at a May Day demonstration in Melbourne, Fla. The AF members also discussed assaulting anti-racist skinheads known as SHARPS (Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice).
The arrests were triggered when “law enforcement became concerned about the pending violence Faella was planning” and his demand to see if members were using their cell phones to secretly record illegal activities.
Others arrested as part of the investigation were: Verlin C. Lewis, 40, of Lynn Haven, Fla.; Mark McGowan, 29, and Jennifer McGowan, 25, of Canaveral Groves, Fla.; Christopher Brooks, 27, of Palm Bay, Fla.; Diane Stevens, 28, Dustin Perry, 27, and Richard Stockdale, 23, all of Kissimmee, Fla.; and Paul Jackson, 25, and Kent McLellan, 22, both of St. Cloud. Authorities say they are looking for a 12th member of the group, identified as Dylan Rettenmaier.
The group’s activity in Florida dates back to the 1980s when its late founder, David Lynch, lived in the state. Lynch, who moved to California and led a major resurgence of the group about five years ago, was murdered in his Sacramento home in March 2011. His murder remains unsolved.
SPLC
Posted: May 10, 2012 | Author: John P | Filed under: Christopher Brooks, Diane Stevens, Dustin Perry, Jennifer McGowen, Kent McLellan, Marcus Faella, Mark McGowan, neo nazis, Patricia Faella, Paul Jackson, Richard Stokedale | Tags: Christopher Brooks, Diane Stevens, Dustin Perry, Jennifer McGowen, Kent McLellan, Marcus Faella, Mark McGowan, neo nazis, Patricia Faella, Paul Jackson, Richard Stokedale |
FBI arrests seven men, three women after raiding their camp
Osceola County Jail/AP Couples Marcus and Patricia Faella (top row) and Mark and Jennifer McGowan.
Ten suspects linked to the American Front white supremacist group were planning an attack on Jews, immigrants and minorities in Central Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
According to an affidavit obtained by the newspaper, the suspects discussed making ricin, a deadly poison, and were targeting Orlando City Hall.
The ten were arrested after the FBI raided their Florida camp, authorities said.
The last three arrests came after seven people were taken into custody this past weekend on felony charges that fall under the state’s hate crime law, Florida television station WFTV reported.
Two married couples were among those busted. Marcus Faella, 39, and wife Patricia, 36, were arrested along with Mark McGowan, 25, and his wife Jennifer, 25.
The Faellas and Mark McGowan were identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as leaders of the violent group of racist skinheads.
Also busted were 26-year-old Christopher Brooks, Diane Stevens, 28, Kent McLellan, 22, Paul Jackson, 25, Dustin Perry, 20, and 23-year-old Richard Stockdale.
Osceola County Jail/AP Kent McLellan, Diane Stevens and Paul Jackson (l. to r.)
The suspects were charged with evidence of prejudice while committing an offense; attempting to shoot into an occupied dwelling; and paramilitary training.
Under Florida law, the last offense is a felony if done “in furtherance of a civil disorder within the United States.”
The Faellas were freed after posting bond Monday of $500,000.
Approached by WFTV for comment, Patricia Faella asked the reporter to leave.
“Have a great day!” she said, posting a no trespassing sign on her property.
Osceola County Jail/WTSP.com Christopher Brooks, Dustin Perry and Richard Stockdale (l. to r.)
New York Daily News
Posted: May 8, 2012 | Author: John P | Filed under: 1st SS Kavallerie Brigade Motorcycle Division, American Front, Diane Stevens, Marcus Faella, Mark McGowan, Orange County, Patricia Faella | Tags: 1st SS Kavallerie Brigade Motorcycle Division, American Front, Diane Stevens, Marcus Faella, Mark McGowan, Orange County, Patricia Faella |
Three Florida leaders of the American Front, a California-based group of racist skinheads known for its predilection for violence, have been arrested on conspiracy and hate crime charges, along with four other members of the gang.Two of the leaders — Marcus Faella and his wife Patricia Faella — were arrested on Friday, while the third, Mark McGowan, was picked up over the weekend, as were the four lower-ranking group members. The three leaders were charged with instructing another person in the use of firearms or explosives while knowing that they would be used “in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder in the United States.
Officials in Florida initially offered few details of the arrests or the alleged conspiracy. But a source close to the investigation said they are, in effect, the second round in a major, ongoing investigation.
In late March, the Orange County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office in Orlando announced the arrests of sixpeople who belonged to or were associated with the Outlaws motorcycle club or the 1st SS Kavallerie Brigade Motorcycle Division, a neo-Nazi gang started by former Aryan Nations official August Kreis III. A sheriff’s official said the group wanted to “blow up buildings and houses” and to kill rivals.
The details of the latest alleged plot, and the possible relationship of the American Front members to the SS Kavallerie Brigade and Outlaw groups remains murky. Other American Front members arrested today include Diane Stevens, Kent McLellan, Paul Jackson and Jennifer McGowan, the wife of Mark McGowan.
The American Front was started in the late 1980s. It became a well-known group in the early 1990s, but was associated with a large amount of violence, which may have accounted for its fading later in the decade as law enforcement brought several major cases. It saw a major resurgence around 2007 under David Lynch, a charismatic leader in Sacramento, Calif., who was one of the group’s original founders But Lynch was murdered by an unknown attacker in his home on March 2, 2011, and in California, at least, the group has shrunk significantly since that time. Now, most of its activities — and, apparently, most of its members — are in Florida.
The American Front is known to have been associated with the Confederate Hammerskins, another racist skinhead group known for its violence. In 1993, Marcus Faella was the director of the Melbourne, Fla., chapter of that group.
The American Front has a long association with criminal violence. In 1990, John Daly, a member who was secretly Jewish, was nearly killed after group members learned of his background and tried to drown him in the surf in Daytona Beach, Fla. The next year, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, police in Beaverton, Ore., found a hit list of Portland law enforcement officers targeted by the group. In 1993, the consortium said, American Front members were implicated in a series of bomb attacks on black, gay and Jewish people. At the time, prosecutors described the attacks as part of an attempt to ignite a race war.
The American Front is officially based in Sacramento, Calif., and last year had chapters in the Florida towns of Lynn Haven and St. Cloud, along with others in the New Jersey cities of Hackensack, Haledon and Roselle.
SPLC
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