FOIA Documents link Aryan sect with OKC Bombing
4/5/2002

By J.D. Cash, McCurtain Daily Gazette 2002

Following years of denials from officials of the U.S. Department of Justice, documents obtained by this newspaper make clear the FBI possessed evidence linking the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and a cell of terrorists involved with the radical Aryan Nation sect.

Those documents confirm the terrorist cell was receiving assistance and training from a Christian Identity religious cult, known as Elohim City - a paramilitary organization located near Muldrow.

An FBI timeline of events before the bombing raises serious questions: If the group known as the Aryan Republican Army supported bomber Timothy McVeigh in the April 19, 1995 attack, and Elohim City was the launching-pad for the massacre, why has the FBI not acted on this remarkable information?

The McCurtain Daily Gazette obtained the documents as part of a 396-page release of materials through the Freedom of Information Act. The government redacted some of that material. And 23-pages were completely withheld.

In an August 1996 memorandum marked: "Director of the FBI to the Philadelphia FBI," federal agents examined a dangerous gang of neo-Nazi terrorists and their links to McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. Included in the intelligence analysis are statements the memo attributes to a violent Aryan Nation leader, asking members of his revolutionary cell, "Are you ready for the courthouse massacre?"

The deadly boast is made only weeks before the Oklahoma City federal building was destroyed by a bomb - and a short drive from where 168 men, women and children were murdered.

Also captured on the videotape, another terrorist discusses plans to start a revolution by firing rockets and machine guns during an Olympic event in Atlanta.

Later, prosecutors charged Eric Robert Rudolf - a former resident of Murphy, N.C.- alleging he was responsible for the July 27, 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, the double bombing of an abortion clinic located in the Sandy Springs Professional Building in north Atlanta on Jan. 16, 1997, and the double bombing at The Otherside Lounge - a gay bar in Atlanta - on February 21, 1997.

Federal investigators believe Rudolph maintained contacts inside the Christian Identity movement and even met with the leadership of the Aryan Nation Church of Jesus Christ Christian at Hayden Lake, Idaho. A $1 million reward is offered for Rudolf's arrest.



Neo-Nazi Conspiracy Detailed

The FBI during a raid in Columbus, Ohio uncovered much of the key physical evidence referred to in the memo.

On Jan. 18, 1996, a FBI SWAT team, subdued self-styled revolutionary Peter Kevin Langan after a shootout left the Aryan Nation disciple slightly wounded.

Two days earlier, Langan's partner, Richard Lee Guthrie Jr., was arrested following a brief car chase in Cincinnati.

A search of the Columbus rental the gang was using as a hideout, turned up a large supply of Aryan Nation literature, false identifications, live grenades, pipe bombs and a storehouse of bomb-making paraphernalia.

One of the crucial pieces of evidence recovered: a two-hour-long videotape that gang members made in southeast Kansas only weeks before the Oklahoma City bombing.

Throughout the video, gang leaders Langan and Guthrie appear with faces covered and present a plan for racial revolution based on a book called The Turner Diaries.

At several points in the homemade production, Langan and Guthrie exhibit large amounts of cash they say was stolen from banks.

Throughout the tape, the pair urge followers to unite and kill leading government figures and all non-white, non-Christians.

In spite of Langan's comment to this reporter, that, "There's no crime in making a bad movie," statements on the videotape likely helped send him to prison for life.

In the FBI memo obtained by this newspaper, investigators focus on a violent faction that Langan and Philadelphia radical Mark Thomas helped lead: "The Aryan Nation - Eastern Command aka Aryan Republican Army or ARA."

A former KKK and Posse Comitatus leader, Thomas drifted to Richard Butler's Aryan Nation organization in the early 1990's and became a recruiter. Later, Butler provided Thomas a senior leadership role in Aryan Nation and sent him back to Philadelphia to continue recruiting efforts.

Thomas was arrested on Jan. 30, 1997. Also taken into custody that day, Michael Brescia - an Elohim City-trained terrorist and former roommate of Andreas Carl Strassmeir.

Later, Brescia, Thomas and Langan would be named in a 1997, multi-count federal indictment filed in Philadelphia. Also named were two other Strassmeir roommates, Kevin McCarthy and Scott Stedeford.

The indictments alleged these men were involved in a conspiracy to rob banks to finance a revolution of racial genocide. Grand jurors in Philadelphia said several of the men lived and trained at Elohim City.

Before a trial could be convened, Brescia, Thomas and McCarthy each pleaded guilty and accepted extremely light sentences in return for their cooperation.

Strassmeir, the paramilitary instructor at Elohim City, fled the U.S. and was never charged.

A suspicious phone call on April 5, 1995, from McVeigh to Elohim City, asking for Strassmeir, first raised questions about the mysterious former German military officer.

Guthrie never faced trial. He was found dead in his cell on July 15, 1996. A week earlier the Navy Seal-dropout agreed to provide information about the gang's violent conspiracy. A coroner ruled the death suicide.

In separate bank robbery trials in Ohio, Langan and Stedeford received stiff sentences from jurors who heard evidence against them.

Referring to the extraordinary admissions gang members made in late January 1995 - just days before they traveled to Arizona - the FBI director's memo of August, 1996, states: "According to Guthrie, the videotape was the idea of Langan who wore a disguise and used an alias of "Commander Pedro" in the video. Langan tells of the ARA and how the group intended to commit an underground struggle to form an Aryan Republic in North America. Langan spoke of creating cells, the members of which should begin to wage war against the "Zionist Occupied Government" (ZOG).

"Langan pointed to a poster which contains the ARA 'Hit List' that included pictures of Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director Louis Freeh, President William Clinton and Senator Howard Metzenbaum and stated that those pictured have already had death sentences passed against them or have been banished by military tribunal. Langan makes reference in the video to his "Serb Brothers" and their battle for ethnic cleansing. Later in the video, the other three ARA members, Guthrie, (additional names redacted) all wearing Halloween masks, can be seen in the background while Langan asks the viewers to work for revolution and to adhere to the program of Christian Identity. At another point in the video, Langan asks the other members if they are ready for the "Courthouse Massacre". One answers in the affirmative and displays a semi-automatic handgun and says there will be many congressman and judges there."

Langan's former attorney says he doubts the copy of the tape his office received has any such statements on it.

"I know the tape by heart," Columbus attorney, Kevin Durkin told the Gazette. "There is nothing on my copy or the one played in court during Langan's trial that reflects those statements."

Durkin added, "We were able to prove that an audiotape the government sought to introduce had been altered. Maybe the FBI didn't want us to see all that. That may well have happened with this videotape."

But a copy of the videotape obtained by the McCurtain Daily Gazette confirms the statements made in the FBI memo. Near the end of the videotape, Langan is shown with three men, all wearing disguises. Langan turns to his comrades and says: "Did you want to join Unit 7 at the courthouse massacre?"

Guthrie, wearing a Halloween mask, pulls out a pistol and hand grenade, then says, "Oh, yes! There's going to be a big party down there. Judges and congressmen. We're trying to get a war started."

Langan responds: "And don't forget your cake!"

Immediately after making the tape, the FBI says the ARA drove to Arizona.

The same week the ARA arrived at a campground near Flagstaff, McVeigh rented a motel room in Kingman, then retrieved explosives from a storage locker that he used to blow-up the federal building.

In the video, two large yellow flags flank Langan. The flags are modeled after revolutionary-era flags, featuring a coiled snake prominently displayed in the center. Underneath the snake are the words: "Don't Tread on Me."

An identical yellow flag with the same inscription was hanging on a flagpole in Michael Fortier's yard in Kingman, Arizona when federal agents raided his home after the bombing.

Fortier later pled guilty to a role in the Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy and testified against McVeigh and Terry Nichols.



Olympics Violence Predicted



Near the end of the videotape obtained by this newspaper, Guthrie is recorded giving a long statement regarding the gang's use of bank robberies to finance terrorism. Throughout the dialogue, Guthrie encourages the audience to form underground cells and revolt against the government.

Bragging about plans the men have for committing additional murders, Guthrie says, "The Commander, I hear he's gonna be in Atlanta, ... unintelligible .... I even hear he will enter the biathlon with HK 91's (machine gun) and L.A.W. rockets.....unintelligible ... the start of the second American Revolution."

The Aryan Republican Army's plans for a wide-ranging racial holy war are highlighted in the FBI director's August 1996 memo: "An analysis of information obtained through FBI and U.S. Secret Service investigations, including interviews of several subjects of Bombrob, Major Case 124, as well as open source information has determined that the Aryan Republican Army (ARA) is an organization whose goals are to violently overthrow the U.S. Government in order to create a white-only, Aryan Homeland; extermination of Jews; remove African Americans to Africa; and to create an independent sovereign state. The ARA's goals are to be accomplished by an armed rebellion, supporting itself through such criminal activities as bank and armored car robberies perpetrated by like-minded people trained in military style operations."

The memorandum also recognizes that members of the ARA were in league with various white supremacist movements in this country.

Referring to Richard Butler's group at Hayden Lake, the FBI memo continues: "Cell members collectively committed 22-armed robberies from November 1992 to December 1995, netting approximately $250,000. Investigation has determined that the proceeds of these robberies have provided funding for white extremists including the ARA, as well as, for (name redacted) and his supremacist organization. .... It is believed based on investigation conducted to date, that funds may have been passed to the Aryan Nations Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Hayden Lake, Idaho."

Assessing the chilling evidence, the D.C. memo states: "The violent acts perpetrated by the ARA, as well as the rhetoric, comply with the four required circumstances described in the Attorney General's guidelines for the initiation of a D S/T (Domestic Security/Terrorism) investigation. The four circumstances are as follows: 1)The magnitude of the threatened harm. - I.E., Political Assassination, Genocide, Bombings, Bank and Armored Car Robberies; 2)The likelihood it will occur - I.E., Violent acts advocated by members of the ARA have occurred on a consistent basis over the past decade. This pattern, coupled with the comments and views of the group's leadership, tend to assure a continuance of these types of actions to attain their political goals. 3)The immediacy of the threat - I.E. the Aryan Nations is an organization whose members have historically been involved in criminal activity aimed at the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government. 4)The danger to privacy and free expression - I.E., Members of the ARA have prepared a video encouraging other white supremacists to join cells for the commission of assassinations and other criminal acts and have committed violent acts in furtherance of their desire to violently overthrow the U.S. Government. Based on their criminal patterns of activity, it is inherent upon the FBI to continue its investigation into their activities, funding and associations."



Remarkably Bloody History



The tapes seized by the FBI were packed inside mailing envelopes. This newspaper has learned that two of those tapes were addressed to Richard Butler and Louis Beam.

At the time the tapes were made, Beam and Butler were considered the most influential figures in the American neo-Nazi movement.

Butler oversaw the Aryan Nation Church of Jesus Christ Christian. The group was headquartered on Butler's 20-acre site near Hayden Lake, Idaho. Recently the property was abandoned by Butler's followers when the land was sold to satisfy a judgment.

Former Texas Klansman Louis Beam, has, in the past, been called a roving ambassador for the Aryan Nation. Beam was once considered Butler's heir to head the organization.

Beam and Butler have largely disappeared from the white supremacist movement, both claiming health problems.

Remnants of the organization have moved to Pennsylvania and reconstituted itself near Philadelphia.

In 1988, Beam, Butler and a dozen other members of the movement were acquitted by jurors in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The men were charged with violent acts that the government said were part of a conspiracy to topple the U.S. government.

During the trial a witness for the government, James Ellison, testified that he and white supremacist Richard Wayne Snell made plans in 1983 to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building. The plan was put on hold when the bomb-maker was injured.

Ellison was leader of a group in northern Arkansas called the Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord (CSA). Out of prison, now, James Ellison lives at Elohim City.

Only 12 hours after a truck bomb exploded in Oklahoma City, Snell was executed in Arkansas for killing a Texarkana pawnbroker.

During Snell's last days, members of his family lived at Elohim City. The group's leader, Robert Millar, served as spiritual advisor to Snell and was present at the execution. Snell is buried at Elohim City.

Guards at the Arkansas prison noted that Snell told them there would be a violent retaliation for his execution. After watching and laughing at the coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing, the condemned man predicted Middle East terrorists would be blamed for attacking the federal building.



FBI, Secret Service Documents



Sprinkled throughout the FBI reports obtained by the Gazette are references to McVeigh and the ARA's various bank robberies. Dates on the FBI documents make clear the ARA was immediately suspected of involvement with McVeigh and the tragedy in Oklahoma City.

Referring to a '94 bank heist in Ohio, the FBI requested the surveillance video from the bank be sent for comparison with photos of McVeigh, who'd just been arrested as a suspect in the bombing.

Dated May 15, 1995, the FBI responded to OKBOMB headquarters: "The video was examined to locate frames depicting the bank robbers. These images were then compared to known photographs of Timothy McVeigh and (name redacted) to determine if they were identical. Due to lack of image detail and resolution in the videotape no meaningful conclusion could be reached regarding the identification of the depicted robbers. The submitted evidence has been returned. "

Agents also discovered handwriting similar to that of McVeigh's on a motel registration linked to the gang's stay in Ohio. The name used to rent the motel room is redacted from the motel registration this newspaper was provided in the FOIA response.

After the bombing, McVeigh's sister, Jennifer provided the FBI sketchy details of her brother's involvement with a gang that robbed banks.

In that sworn affidavit, signed May 2, 1995, Ms. McVeigh admitted her brother produced a stack of $100 bills from a bank robbery. Under threat of polygraph examination, Jennifer McVeigh admitted she'd "laundered" some of the bank robbery money through her own bank account and given her brother fresh, unmarked cash.

Jennifer McVeigh told authorities that her brother showed her the bank robbery proceeds in late-1994, while visiting the family in upstate New York. She said her brother helped plan the robbery. She also admitted that he told her about plans to commit political assassinations.

The FBI acknowledges they located McVeigh's registration at a motel in Kent, Ohio. Records indicate he checked in on Nov. 4 and left two days later. During that time, McVeigh attended a gun show. Later, McVeigh traveled to New York and then made several trips back to the Midwest. Telephone records also place him in Ohio during this important period.

Equally revealing, McVeigh, a former armored car driver, told his attorney Stephen Jones that he and Nichols "cased some banks." Jones added the snippet to a book he later wrote.

Nichols' former wife, Lana Padilla, also wrote a book. In it she recalled the FBI questioned her about Nichols' connections to a gang of bank robbers. Padilla admitted she was very suspicious of her unemployed former husband. In late-November of 1994 - while Terry Nichols was visiting his wife in the Philippines - Padilla found nearly $60,000 in cash and silver coins her ex-husband had stashed away.

Documents obtained by this newspaper show the FBI located registration records reflecting that ARA members checked into a motel near Kent, Ohio, on Dec. 5. 1994. Four days later, the ARA robbed the Third Federal Savings and Loan in Middleburg Heights - a Columbus suburb. Terry Nichols was out of the country at this time. But FBI records also show that on the following day, at least two members of the ARA bank robbery gang, McCarthy and Stedeford, attended a gun show in Overland Park, Kansas. The FBI acknowledges McVeigh was also there.

Other connections are noted in the director's memo: "Information has been developed that (names redacted) were at the home of (name redacted) Elohim City, Oklahoma on 4/5/95 when OKBOMB subject, Timothy McVeigh, placed a telephone call to (name redacted) residence. On 4/16/95, a telephone call was placed from (name redacted) residence to (name redacted) residence in Philadelphia Division. BOMBROB subjects (names redacted) left (name redacted) residence on 4/16/95 en-route to Pittsburg, Kansas where they joined (name redacted) and Guthrie. (Name redacted) did not accompany (name redacted) and (name redacted) but rather returned directly to Philadelphia Division.

At the trial of Terry Nichols, the government introduced into evidence a receipt with McVeigh's fingerprints. Prosecutors said it proved McVeigh purchased an oil filter from a Wal-Mart in Ark-city, Kansas the afternoon of April 12, 1995.

This tiny community is just north of the Oklahoma border and only a one-hour drive due west of what was then the ARA's Pittsburg, Kan. hideout.

No motel receipt or any other evidence has ever surfaced showing where McVeigh spent the night of the April 12th or the 13th. The FBI says they checked records of every motel in Oklahoma and Kansas for this timeframe and could find no record of where McVeigh stayed, until he checked into the Dreamland Motel in Junction City on the 14th of April.

At the Denver bombing trials in 1997, the government also introduced evidence that the truck used to destroy the federal building was rented in Junction City, the afternoon of April 17, 1995.

A substantial number of witnesses have come forward and told the FBI that McVeigh was with several young men in Kansas and Oklahoma before the bombing.

At the time of his arrest, Mark Thomas told members of the media in a public setting that he had information Kevin McCarthy was one of the men who helped McVeigh blow-up the Oklahoma City federal building.

Two weeks later, a federal prosecutor said the white supremacist had entered into a deal with the government and was recanting the story about McCarthy helping McVeigh.

Copies of a FBI interview obtained by this newspaper confirm that the FBI interviewed a girlfriend of Thomas after his arrest, and she went a bit further about Thomas' information.

During two extensive interviews, the woman told the FBI that Thomas bragged to her that his gang would bomb a federal building in the coming months. He told her the attack was to be retribution for the deaths of Branch Davidians at Waco.

The woman said Thomas made the statements in late 1994. She also told agents that Thomas left Pennsylvania and traveled to Elohim City shortly before the bombing.

Thomas confirmed he made a trip to Elohim City prior to the bombing, but refused to discuss the details with this reporter. Documents obtained from the FBI corroborate the trip.

According to witnesses interviewed at Elohim City, Thomas left the compound 48 to 72 hours before the bomb was detonated in Oklahoma City.

Men who also fanned out from Elohim City in the days just prior to the bombing: McCarthy and Brescia.

Both Brescia and McCarthy have since been released from federal facilities after entering into plea deals for their admitted roles in a number of bank robberies.

Another member of the ARA, who has never been able to account for his whereabouts on April 19, 1995, Scott Stedeford, is serving the balance of a 29-year sentence for bank robbery.

A company called Resistance Records is selling a CD on the Internet produced by Stedeford with the assistance of band members, Brescia and McCarthy. The name of the recording is: Day of the Sword.

The recording contains a number of songs with lyrics calling for the overthrow of the government and murder of all non-whites and Jews. The professionally edited CD was recorded after the bombing, using funds stolen from banks. The CD is dedicated to white power icons Randy Weaver, Richard Wayne Snell and Robert J. Mathews.

Resistance Records is owned by William Pierce, the man who wrote The Turner Diaries.

Prosecutors at the Denver bombing trials for McVeigh and Nichols said The Turner Diaries were the blueprint for the slaughter at the Oklahoma City federal building.

Mark Thomas is due to be released from custody on January 19, 2004.

Peter Langan is preparing to file another appeal of his life sentence. In a telephone interview for this article, he confirmed that he has information about the bombing.

Langan said he would reveal that information if, "The government builds that bridge. Without a deal, I'm not going to go any further and face another trial, having those statements used against me."

Langan has made deals with the government in the past. In September 1993, the Secret Service arranged Langan's release from jail after he entered into an agreement to work undercover. The former KKK member was hired to infiltrate the Aryan Nation movement.

Additional FBI documents obtained by this newspaper confirm that, prior to Langan's deal with the Secret Service, he told an informant working for law enforcement that he would someday bomb a federal building.

Despite orders from a federal judge to turn over copies of all the evidence the FBI had in the OKBOMB case, the FBI director's August '96 memo was not part of the materials made available to lawyers for McVeigh or Nichols.

Copyright 2002 McCurtain Daily Gazette