A race war was thwarted by an FBI investigation after it was revealed that the head of a white supremacist group was planning to kill Jews, immigrants and other minorities.
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Federal authorities arrested ten alleged members of a white supremacist group near a training camp in Orland, FL.
The neo-Nazi organization known as the American Front, headed by Marcus Faella, 39, was under a 17 month investigation. According to an arrest affidavit:
“The American Front (AF) is a military-styled, anti-Semitic, white supremacist, skinhead organization and is known as a domestic terrorist organization.”
It said the group’s alleged local ringleader, Faella had been “planning and preparing the AF for what he believes to be an inevitable race war” and had stated “his intent … to kill Jews, immigrants and other minorities.”
According to Reuters:
Faella operated a heavily fortified paramilitary training center for the AF on his isolated property in St. Cloud, Florida, 11 miles from the Walt Disney World theme parks, according to the affidavit.
It said he recently had been plotting a disturbance at Orlando City Hall and a confrontation against a rival skinhead group in coastal Melbourne in a bid to garner media attention, but had also been experimenting with the potential manufacture of the biological toxin ricin.
“Faella views himself and the other members of the AF as the protectors of the white race,” the affidavit said, adding that Faella also believed “the race war will take place within the next few years based on current world events.”
Faella’s compound, where he regularly conducted firearms, explosives and tactical training for AF members and other neo-Nazi groups, was protected by two pit bull dogs, a barbed-wire fence and three military-style trenches.
Faella fortified the walls of his residential trailer and added firing ports, according to the affidavit.
Faella and his alleged followers were each charged with paramilitary training, shooting into an occupied dwelling and evidence of prejudices while committing an offense, according to a written statement from the prosecutor’s office.
The investigation into the AF was conducted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and local law enforcement agencies, which shut down and arrested the group after the confidential informant came to believe his life was in danger.
A lawyer for Faella and the other suspects arrested in the case could not be reached for immediate comment but Marcus and Patricia Faella, who were arrested on Friday, have already been released on a bond totaling $500,000 each.
The atmosphere in central Florida has been a powder keg of racial tension in the last two months after the racially charged shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, who said he acted in self defense.
SOURCE: Reuters
(Photos courtesy of Reuters)
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