An FBI informant created one of the largest Nazi groups in American history
An FBI informant co-founded one of the largest and oldest neo-Nazi organizations in U.S. history: the National Socialist Movement , a group linked to numerous crimes and violent events, including the deadly 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, according to documents previously not made public. reviewed by Headline USA.
The documents – a collection of FBI memos, affidavits and court documents that this publication has dubbed the “Fed Files” – also indicate that the NSM allegedly had informants in senior positions throughout much of its nearly 50-year history.
Once known as the “Hollywood Nazis ” for its flashy rallies and crude propaganda, the NSM was also accused of being co-opted by the FBI in a lawsuit brought by a former member who is now in prison.
Numerous current and former NSM members have denied any affiliation with the FBI or law enforcement.
How the NSM was born
The NSM was founded in 1974 by Cliff Herrington and Robert Brannen , both lieutenants of the prominent American fascist George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the original American Nazi Party in 1959.
In 1976, suspicion grew within the Nazi movement that Brannen was working with the FBI.
Indeed, the NSM's own publication, the National Socialist, published an article in April 1976, denying allegations by a rival group – the National Socialist White Peoples Party, or NSWPP – that Brannen was an informer. The National Socialist article called the accusations a “reckless and irresponsible defamatory attack on Comrade Brennan.”
Too bad, from the documents that have now emerged, the NSWPP was right about Brannen.
An FBI memo warning that undercover informant Robert Brannnen's cover had been compromised
Commenting on that National Socialist article several months later, a May 1976 FBI memo warned that Brannen's cover may have been blown.
The redacted memo does not show the informant's name, but clearly identifies Brannen by referring to the National Socialist article and the accusations that were floating around him at the time.
“The informant's photograph and description appeared in the February 1976 NSWPP publication and he was named an FBI informant,” the FBI memo reads.
“The whistleblower group, NSM, has publicized a rebuttal, and the Cincinnati office is taking special precautions to ensure that this whistleblower can be successfully handled without jeopardizing his personal safety,” the statement read.
Despite the charges against Brannen, he continued to lead the NSM for nearly another decade until he suffered several strokes in 1983 . NSM's other co-founder, Cliff Herrington, denied that his former colleague was ever a federal informant.
Incidentally, Herrington also confirmed reports that his wife, Andrea Herrington aka Maxine Dietrich, founded a satanic cult called Joy of Satan Ministries.
Herrington led the NSM from the time of Brannen's major stroke in 1983 until 1994, when he appointed Jeff Schoep to succeed him.
Jeff Schoep's era of dominance
Schoep, who led the NSM from 1994 until shortly after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, was also accused of being an FBI informant .
Unlike Brannen, the accusation against Schoep is not clearly supported by FBI memos. And the accusation comes from a controversial source: former NSM member Bill White , who is now serving time in prison for multiple felony convictions and who left the movement due to the discovery of Herrington's wife's satanic inclinations.
White accused Schoep of being an informant in a 2017 FOIA lawsuit he filed against the FBI from prison, as well as in a 2020 court filing in which he unsuccessfully requested compassionate release. White attached the FBI memo on Brannen to the same court filing.
In his FOIA suit, White sought documents on the NSM, Schoep and a number of other figures who he said were part of a right-wing FBI entrapment operation.
According to White, the FBI took control of the NSM as early as 2004, and probably much earlier. White alleged in his FOIA lawsuit that the FBI and ATF “ used the National Socialist movement to organize fake 'white supremacist' demonstrations .”
“The FBI-JTTF [Joint Terrorism Task Force] also allegedly organized violent counterdemonstrations against these demonstrations through informants in groups like Anti-Racist Action… The ATF was also using the NSM in a similar manner,” White said in his lawsuit FOIA.
“ Neither party disclosed that the demonstrations were fraudulent ,” White added. “ Instead, the federal government used the demonstrations to make it appear as if there was a 'domestic terrorist threat' when no such threat existed .”
As for Schoep, White said he believes the former NSM leader was an FBI informant because, among other reasons, Schoep “frequently lied” when they worked directly together from 2005 to 2006.
“ Schoep would often ask me to go to various places to perform tasks that only benefited the FBI-JTTF operation, adding legitimacy to their front groups or to remove myself from problematic situations, ” White said.
“It is practically impossible for Schoep not to know that he was acting primarily in the interests of the FBI-JTTF operation, and not in his own interests, if he were a sincere supporter of National Socialism,” added White, who was ultimately fired by a judge for procedural reasons.
In an October 2020 affidavit to the court in a separate matter, White provided more details about why he thinks Schoep worked with the feds.
The convicted Nazi cited a heavily redacted FBI memo obtained via FOIA. The memo said the FBI had interviewed an NSM associate who was in Chicago when law enforcement arrested Matthew Hale, a white nationalist in prison on charges of soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow.
“ [Schoep's] presence in Chicago with Matt Hale at the time of Hale's arrest makes it clear that [the FBI memo refers to] Schoep, ” White said in his affidavit, also stating, “ I know from prior communicated that Team 4 of the Minneapolis Field Division handled Jeff Schoep.”
When presented with White's documents, Schoep admitted to being briefly detained and speaking to law enforcement after Hale's arrest, but denied speaking to the FBI about Hale or any another topic. He said he spoke with U.S. Marshals when Hale was arrested and detained, without offering information.
The NSM is currently commanded by Burt Colucci, who told Headline USA that he too was asked to be an informant.
Colucci said he rejected the FBI's offer.
“The FBI likes to play, no matter what side you're on. They actually came to me and said they could 'supplement my income' by offering it to me – they didn't specify what they meant exactly or how much, but they said they would supplement my income,” he said.
“I told them I wanted nothing to do with them and to talk to my lawyers, so they did: They talked to my lawyer from Arizona at the time,” he said, adding: “I would have told them personally of f *Go away and keep their money, but my lawyer says, “Let me tell them.” I'll say it a little nicer for you.”
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article An FBI informant created one of the largest Nazi groups in American history comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/un-informatore-dellfbi-ha-creato-uno-dei-piu-grandi-gruppi-nazisti-della-storia-americana/ on Tue, 26 Sep 2023 09:00:55 +0000.