Things that make you go “hmmmm.”
Or is it “umm humm.” The BBC reports:
The American founder of US-based militant neo-Nazi group The Base is directing the organisation from Russia, a BBC investigation has found.
Rinaldo Nazzaro, 46, who uses the aliases “Norman Spear” and “Roman Wolf”, left New York for St Petersburg less than two years ago.
The Base is a major counter terrorism focus for the FBI.
Seven alleged members were charged this month with various offences, including conspiracy to commit murder.
Court documents prepared by the FBI describe The Base as a “racially motivated violent extremist group” that “seeks to accelerate the downfall of the United States government, incite a race war, and establish a white ethno-state”.
And:
A video posted online in March 2019 shows Nazzaro in Russia wearing a t-shirt bearing an image of President Vladimir Putin along with the words “Russia, absolute power”.
We traced Nazzaro and his Russian wife to an upmarket property in central St Petersburg purchased in her name in July 2018 – the same month to which the FBI dates the creation of The Base.
Records show that, before moving to Russia, Nazzaro ran a company registered in New York that offered access to a “network of security professionals” with expertise in intelligence, counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and psychological operations.
A website for the firm – Omega Solutions – once stated: “Our associates have worked with various government and military agencies, including multiple wartime deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan”.
When we visited the company’s one-time address it was little more than a mail drop, although the firm officially remains active and has a current insurance policy.
Property records show that an apartment associated with Nazzaro in New Jersey was given as the address for an entity called “Base Global” when it purchased land in the US state of Washington.
The Guardian has learned the true identity of the leader and founder of the US-based neo-Nazi terror network the Base, which was recently the target of raids by the FBI after an investigation into domestic terrorism uncovered their plans to start a race war.
Members of the group stand accused of federal hate crimes, murder plots and firearms offenses, and have harbored international fugitives in recent months.
The Base’s leader previously operated under the aliases “Norman Spear” and “Roman Wolf”. Members of the network do not know his true identity due to the group’s culture of internal secrecy.
But the Guardian can reveal that “Norman Spear” is in fact US-born Rinaldo Nazzaro, 46, who has a long history of advertising his services as an intelligence, military and security contractor. He has claimed, under his alias, to have served in Russia and Afghanistan.
The revelation of his identity comes after a months-long investigation by the Guardian into Nazzaro and the activities of the Base.
The Base – which is an approximate English translation of “al-Qaida” – began recruiting in late 2018. The white supremacy group, which has regional and international cells, extols the virtues of an all-out race war while specifically targeting African Americans and Jewish people.
Using encrypted apps, members of the highly organized group planned terror campaigns; vandalized synagogues; established armed training camps and recruited new members.
The US attorney for Maryland, Robert K Hur, speaking after the recent arrest of three members of the Base, said that they “did more than talk – they took steps to act and act violently on their racist views”.
Few traces of him exist anywhere..
Members of The Base have recently been arrested in Georgia, Wisconsin and three alleged members of the group were arrested by the FBI at the recent Richmond, VA gun rights rally. Court documents showed they were considering various acts of domestic terrorism which they hoped might spark a civil war.
Three alleged members of a white supremacist group were plotting to murder demonstrators at Monday’s gun rights rally at the Virginia Capitol before they were arrested by the FBI last week, according to court documents.
The men were caught discussing their plans on a hidden camera set up in their Delaware apartment by FBI agents.
“We can’t let Virginia go to waste, we just can’t,” said Patrik J. Mathews, one member of the hate group “the Base” that promotes violence against African-Americans and Jews.
According to authorities, the 27-year-old former Canadian Armed Forces reservist also discussed creating “instability” in Virginia by killing people, derailing trains, poisoning water, and shutting down highways in order to “kick off the economic collapse” and possibly start a “full blown civil war.”
Mathews also discussed the possibility of “executing” police officers and stealing their belongings and remarked that, “We could essentially be like literally hunting people.”
“Virginia will be our day,” said 33-year-old Brian M. Lemley Jr., adding, “I need to claim my first victim.”
“Lemley discussed using a thermal imaging scope affixed to his rifle to conduct ambush attacks,” the court filings read.
The two were arrested along with a third man, 19, last Thursday. They are charged with federal firearms violations and “transporting and harboring an alien,” referring to Mathews, who is a Canadian national. Four more members of The Base have also been arrested and charged in Georgia and Wisconsin.
In a search of the apartment, prosecutors said that FBI agents found propaganda fliers for The Base, communications devices, empty rifle cases, “go bags” with “numerous Meals-Ready-to-Eat,” knives, and materials for building an assault rifle.
The @guardian has identified the head of racist, neo-Nazi terror network, The Base, as Rinaldo Nazzaro
Nazzaro and his followers have been planning a race war, and committed hate crimes, weapons offenses & more.
This is the face of white supremacy today.https://t.co/aOkcrZ2pO6
— Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) January 24, 2020
A secret domestic terrorism investigation revealed that the violent neo-Nazi group was recruiting cells across the United States. https://t.co/6Z71P14GwV w/@NeilMacFarquhar
— Adam Goldman (@adamgoldmanNYT) January 23, 2020
A wide-ranging domestic terrorism investigation of "The Base," a militant neo-Nazi group, culminates in arrests of seven alleged members—and provides extensive details about an organization authorities say advocates for the overthrow the U.S. government. https://t.co/k8jSKgI0V5
— ABC News (@ABC) January 24, 2020
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.