An organization that fights for racial and social justice published secret audio recordings Thursday that uncover aspects of how one American white supremacist group seeks to recruit from the U.S. military and law enforcement and encourages its members to hatch violent plots and undertake paramilitary training to start a race war.
The Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) recordings, published as part of a podcast series called "Sounds Like Hate," provide insight into the recruiting tactics and terrorism ambitions of a neo-Nazi white supremacist group called The Base, whose American-born-and-raised leader Rinaldo Nazzaro is believed to be living in Russia.
"We want things to accelerate, we want things to get worse in the United States," Nazzaro says in the recordings, as he interviews a potential new recruit.
"Our mission's very, very simple. It is training and networking, preparing for collapse. We want to be in a position where we’re ready, we're prepared enough, ready enough that we can take advantage of whatever chaos, power vacuum, that might emerge. We want to try and fill that power vacuum and take advantage of the chaos."
Rinaldo Nazzaro
The law center's three-part podcast – parts two and three publish later this month – takes listeners through 83 hours of secret recordings as 100 men apply for membership. The recordings were made on an encrypted app called "Wire" by a Canadian journalist who infiltrated the group and via a separate confidential source who provided the recordings unsolicited. The authenticity of the recordings was verified by subject matter experts who recognized Nazzaro’s voice from previous audio appearances and were able to verify other corroborating details.
Much of the conversation makes for disturbing listening and includes racial slurs, offensive language and discussions about how to precipitate the collapse of American civilization and engineer their fantasies of a white ethnostate.
USA TODAY could not independently verify the identities of those featured on the podcast.
Nazzaro repeatedly makes clear in the recordings that he favors recruiting members who have either served in the police or the military because of their experience with guns and/or combat expertise. Several of the candidates Nazzaro interviews claim to have such backgrounds, including some who claim to be on active military duty, although the SPLC acknowledges that some of the statements made by candidates to Nazzaro may be exaggerated to win his approval. An estimated 20% of potential recruits claimed to be connected to the military in some capacity.
"Right. But I mean, you know, even when you do deploy, I'm assuming that you'll still be able to maintain contact with us," Nazzaro says to one candidate being interviewed, who claims to be responsible for operating weapons on tanks in the U.S. military.
Also discussed: bombings, arson and economic sabotage.
Right-wing extremists responsible for 90% of U.S. terrorist attacks in 2020
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The U.S. Marine Corps. has confirmed that two of the 13 men charged by federal and state authorities in an alleged domestic terrorism plot to kidnap Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were Marine veterans. Some of the men are accused of scheming to storm the State Capitol building, take Whitmer and other government officials hostage and start a civil war over their anti-government views and grievances ranging from poor economic prospects to anger over coronavirus restrictions.
FBI:Virginia Gov. Northam was also targeted in plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer
The alleged Michigan plot has renewed attention on warnings from security experts, U.S. lawmakers and extremism researchers about the growing threat of domestic terrorism from far-right groups, many of them with links to white supremacy extremists.
"Today, white supremacist terrorism is responsible for more deaths on U.S. soil than jihadist terrorism since 9/11," the Soufan Center, a New York-based global security think tank, noted in a recent report.
In May last year, Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Michael McGarrity testified before Congress that of the FBI's 850 open domestic terrorism cases a "significant majority" were related to white supremacist extremists.
And according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, right-wing extremists were responsible for more than 76% of terrorist attacks and plots in the U.S. in 2019; 90% in the first half of 2020.
The Soufan Center says many of these extremists maintain strong transnational links to like-minded organizations and individuals all over the world from Australia to South Africa. But Russia and Ukraine, in particular, have emerged as a "hub in the broader network" where the leaders of American white extremist groups have traveled to learn recruitment, financing and propaganda techniques that in many cases imitate the "tactics, techniques and procedures of groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State."
In 2018, several members of the Southern California-based Rise Above Movement (RAM) traveled to Germany, Italy and Ukraine to meet with members of white supremacy groups, according to an affidavit and criminal complaint against Robert Paul Rundo – RAM's founder – and three other members of the group unsealed by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The complaint charged Rundo and his associates with inciting and conspiring to commit violence in connection with several rallies, including the August 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to the death of protester Heather Heyer. Three RAM members were later given prison sentences for their part in conspiracies to riot at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, and other alleged political rallies in California.
Hate crimes:Avowed neo-Nazi James Fields sentenced to life in prison
Former Vice President Joe Biden said in late April last year that he decided in part to declare his candidacy for the Democratic nomination and presidency after hearing President Donald Trump say of the rally in Charlottesville that there were "very fine people on both sides." Trump later said he was quoted out of context. However, far-right groups such as the all-male Proud Boys have expressed admiration for Trump and the president has appeared inconsistent in condemning right-wing extremist organizations.
These countries quietly slid into authoritarianism: Should the US be concerned?
The SPLC and reporting from news outlets such as ProPublica and Britain's The Guardian have established that Nazzaro is 47-years-old, attended Villanova University and owns land in a remote corner of Washington state. He says he served in the U.S. military in Afghanistan and claims to have worked for American intelligence agencies as a contractor. At one point, he owned a security company registered in New York City.
Nazzaro left the U.S. in late 2017 when he moved with his Russian wife and family to St. Petersburg, Russia. The Guardian has reported that the FBI is scrutinizing any links between Russian intelligence or its proxies and Nazzaro. It is believed he is originally from New Jersey.
New Jersey's Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said in a statement that The Base will in 2020 "likely attempt to recruit new members in the region, rely on members with military expertise and training, and use intimidation tactics to terrorize its victims and spread its white supremacist ideology."
Geraldine Moriba, a producer of law center's podcast, notes in the series that The Base's members and potential recruits who feature in the recordings "claim to live in 26 different states and participate in small, two-or-three person cells in every quadrant of America. An additional eight countries were represented on these calls."
But Cassie Miller, an SPLC analyst on extremism who is featured in the series, said that while Nazzaro appears at pains to make potential recruits believe the group is a "highly sophisticated terror network" with "strict internal discipline" and vetting methods, the opposite may be true. "They accepted almost everyone who applied," she said.
Members of the public can report suspected terrorists to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALLFBI (225-5324).
''Announcement by the Municipality of Chalandri on the arrest of a high school student in our city On Thursday 15/10, during the student rally, Vangelis, a student of the 7th High School of Halandri and an elected secretary of his school's fifteen-member council was arrested. He was there representing his school in the fair demands made by the student occupation movement to reduce the number of students per class, recruitment of the necessary number of teachers and auxiliary staff and the operation of schools with health safety. Since that day he has been detained in Security on felony charges, despite the fact that during his physical inspection twice nothing was found and at the time of his arrest he was released from a catering shop. The City Council of the city has expressed its full opposition to any attempt to slander and criminalize the student games and called on the State to review its attitude, away from unacceptable punishable logic of authoritarianism, violence and arbitrariness against minors students. On Monday 19.10, at 11 am we will be at the solidarity gathering together with Vangelis's Parents Associations and classmates in the courts of the Epidon where he is invited to apologize to the investigator for felony charges that may have a heavy impact on the later life of a minor child. We ask for his release and discharge of the charges in order to continue his life and study at his school''. https://www.chalandri.gr/uncategorized/65813/ #δημοςχαλανδριου #chalandri #μαθητες #σχολεια
Athens 2006. Dusseldorf 2007. Berlin 2009. Venice 2010. Amsterdam 1 2012. Amsterdam 1+2 2014. Buenos Aires 2015. Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022 EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
WTFF????..No one told them you can shoot on foot or something??.. Sorry to say that but your country is deep sick..my apologies if i offensive someone..
WTFF????..No one told them you can shoot on foot or something??.. Sorry to say that but your country is deep sick..my apologies if i offensive someone..
Truthfully, they are trained to shoot center mass and would probably be heavily reprimanded if they purposely tried to shoot him in the foot. They are trained to shoot center mass in order to prevent stray bullets and it is the best legal option for them. Technically and legally police are trained to “stop”, not to “kill” or maim and center mass is the biggest target. The main question here should be whether this situation warranted any shooting at all. That is what they will have to answer to. Do they train to shoot in the foot in your country? This article says pretty much the same thing as above: https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-trained-shoot-wound-experts/story?id=40402933
WTFF????..No one told them you can shoot on foot or something??.. Sorry to say that but your country is deep sick..my apologies if i offensive someone..
Truthfully, they are trained to shoot center mass and would probably be heavily reprimanded if they purposely tried to shoot him in the foot. They are trained to shoot center mass in order to prevent stray bullets and it is the best legal option for them. Technically and legally police are trained to “stop”, not to “kill” or maim and center mass is the biggest target. The main question here should be whether this situation warranted any shooting at all. That is what they will have to answer to. Do they train to shoot in the foot in your country? This article says pretty much the same thing as above: https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-trained-shoot-wound-experts/story?id=40402933
I guess they do, it's the logic thing.. but we don't have things like this here.. other brutality but very rare killings..
Athens 2006. Dusseldorf 2007. Berlin 2009. Venice 2010. Amsterdam 1 2012. Amsterdam 1+2 2014. Buenos Aires 2015. Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022 EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
Yeah shit is getting real here in Philly. He was definitely coming at them with a knife, but holy hell he was so fucking far away! Did we try a taser? Anything other than deadly force at all??
Yeah shit is getting real here in Philly. He was definitely coming at them with a knife, but holy hell he was so fucking far away! Did we try a taser? Anything other than deadly force at all??
Supposedly his mother was there trying to calm him down when they opened fire.
If there are enough cops to fire off 10 rounds in 3 seconds, there are enough to apprehend him alive.
I've only seen 2 cops in the video. I don't think cops should be expected to tackle a guy charging them with a knife. Someone charging you with a knife from 10 feet away is about 2 seconds away from stabbing you.
Based on the short clip, that incident is the epitomy of being between a rock and a hard place. Those cops clearly didn't want to shoot him and were continually backing away, but eventually you can't keep backpedaling without the risk of falling or misjudging how much distance is between you and the knife. You'd need at least 3 officers for someone to try a taser since they have to be able to meet and stop the level of force being used against them. It looks like the guy wanted suicide by cop and got it. What a shitty situation and the chaos that ensued. I don't know what led up to the shooting or what efforts were made to verbally de-escalate prior to where this video picks up though so it is hard to fully understand what happened.
Based on the short clip, that incident is the epitomy of being between a rock and a hard place. Those cops clearly didn't want to shoot him and were continually backing away, but eventually you can't keep backpedaling without the risk of falling or misjudging how much distance is between you and the knife. You'd need at least 3 officers for someone to try a taser since they have to be able to meet and stop the level of force being used against them. It looks like the guy wanted suicide by cop and got it. What a shitty situation and the chaos that ensued. I don't know what led up to the shooting or what efforts were made to verbally de-escalate prior to where this video picks up though so it is hard to fully understand what happened.
Exactly, we just get a slight glimpse into what was happening out there from that video. It’s not being a bootlicker to realize that charging at cops with a knife is a bad idea with a probable outcome such as this though. I saw a video once of police (not sure what country) using these “net guns” that would tangle a person up and seemed pretty efficient. Maybe officers need to be packing some of those in their trunks when they know they are going on calls related to mental health issues? Here is what I’m referring to: https://www.officer.com/tactical/less-lethal/launchers-shotguns/product/10040730/advanced-weapons-technology-talon-net-gun-system
if we are judging by that video alone, then to me the shooting was justified. they weren't far enough away to prepare to administer their tasers. they were trying to run and he was charging after them. what else could they have done?
If there are enough cops to fire off 10 rounds in 3 seconds, there are enough to apprehend him alive.
Pretty please tell us how the police would have done that from this small clip of this Incident. Or are you part of the why didn’t they shoot the gun out of his hand crowd? ... then don’t bother.
Being able to get and keep something between them and the perp isn’t “super”. Disarming a guy in a 2v1 situation isn’t “super”. Stopping a guy with 1 round when truly necessary isn’t “super”.
Rewatched, thought he fell as soon as they fired. Not the case. The shots came so fast that there was no time for the cops to react to their own shots and recklessly pumping 10 rounds into a guy is clearly past necessary force and simply out of control.
“Pursuing” “coming towards” I think charging insinuates much more aggression than what was displayed and undermines the possibility that there were other possible courses of action.
I tend to think the shooting was legit. If I advance on a cop with a weapon, I should expect to get shot. Now, would they have found a way to keep a white guy alive? Maybe, maybe not. And the fact that we know there are times when a survival is based on race is a problem. But I'm not sold that this was the wrong response. This was not the same as George Floyd or others who have been gunned down for seemingly no reason. And a blue-backer, I am not...
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
Hearing he was having a "mental "episode...it was a lot of shots..he was approaching but not quickly...sticky,sticky spot to be in..I think they shoot if he were white also..
At some point something has to be done so police can deal with calls involving mentally incapacitated people! I refuse to believe the only answer is shoot to kill..
i just don't fucking understand this "suspended with pay" bullshit. if I beat up someone at work, fucking hell if I'd be suspended with pay for a fucking year. a year off with pay? PUT UP YOUR DUKES ASSHOLE.
i just don't fucking understand this "suspended with pay" bullshit. if I beat up someone at work, fucking hell if I'd be suspended with pay for a fucking year. a year off with pay? PUT UP YOUR DUKES ASSHOLE.
Suspended with pay makes sense for an ongoing investigation. But once you're found to be at fault, its just like free vacation.
Comments
https://www.boston.com/news/animals/2020/10/06/maine-police-accused-of-beating-porcupines-to-death-with-batons
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/10/07/former-mpd-officer-derek-chauvin-charged-in-george-floyds-death-expected-to-post-bail-source-says/
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
Secret audio recordings detail how white supremacists seek recruits from military, police
Members of the public can report suspected terrorists to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALLFBI (225-5324).
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
Sorry to say that but your country is deep sick..my apologies if i offensive someone..
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
This article says pretty much the same thing as above:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-trained-shoot-wound-experts/story?id=40402933
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
Here is what I’m referring to:
https://www.officer.com/tactical/less-lethal/launchers-shotguns/product/10040730/advanced-weapons-technology-talon-net-gun-system
www.headstonesband.com
not sure how you came to the conclusion he was stopped after the first bullet. they came so fast that would be nearly impossible to ascertain.
yes, charging. what would you call it? lightly prancing towards the officers?
www.headstonesband.com
Rewatched, thought he fell as soon as they fired. Not the case. The shots came so fast that there was no time for the cops to react to their own shots and recklessly pumping 10 rounds into a guy is clearly past necessary force and simply out of control.
Hampton 2016
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
Hampton 2016
'Worst use of force': Trial begins for officer who threw handcuffed woman to ground face-first
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-police-alex-dunn-assault-trial-video-1.5777524
Cop was suspended for 1 year with pay and is back working a desk job.
www.headstonesband.com
www.headstonesband.com