Hatewatch Tweets
Hatewatch is managed by the staff of the Intelligence Report, an investigative magazine published by the Alabama-based civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.
Racists Arrested After Chicago Attack Have Long History of Activism
One of the two white nationalists arrested after a violent surprise attack by anti-racists in suburban Chicago has a long history of activism on the racist right and was suspected of having ties to several militias in the late 1990s. The other has a lengthy record of arrests on battery and drug charges and writes prolifically on a white nationalist Web forum.
Francis John Gilroy, 65, of West Palm Beach, Fla., was charged with unlawful possession of weapons by a felon after a melee that began when 18 masked intruders attacked a group of white nationalists, including Gilroy, who were meeting in a suburban Chicago restaurant last Saturday.
Longtime white supremacist and former Klan leader Don Black said on his radio show Monday that Gilroy was arrested for having a pistol in his truck. Gilroy has appeared on Black’s show – the “Don and Derek Black Show” – under the name “Father Francis.”
Gilroy, who goes by the name “Copperhead” on Stormfront, the white nationalist web forum where the Chicago meeting was promoted, was arrested in 1999 outside of West Palm Beach after refusing to cooperate with police when he was pulled over for failing to signal a turn. According to the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Gilroy wound up in jail because he wouldn’t provide a driver’s license. Broward County sheriff’s deputies then found several handguns, two assault rifles and 3,000 rounds of ammunition in his van. The Sun Sentinel also reported at the time that FBI agents seized documents related to groups called the Florida Patriots, the North Carolina Patriots and what deputies described as “several other active militia groups across the country.” While in the patrol car, Gilroy had to be put in a special restraint after he slipped his handcuffs under his legs from behind his back.
Gilroy apparently wasn’t the only one who brought a gun. Brandon Spiller, 29, told the TinleyParkPatch, a local newspaper, that he had a pistol in his vehicle but was not able to get to it during the attack. The newspapers showed pictures of Spiller in a bloody shirt, with a gash on his head and a swollen eye. “It’s almost as if it was a terrorist attack,” said Spiller, who was hospitalized and received eight staples in his head. He added that he “had no idea” why his group was targeted.
Also taken into custody after the attack was Steven Eugene Speers, 33, of Grand Forks, N.D., who was arrested on a warrant for possession of child pornography from Dallas County, Texas. Speers, who goes by the name “Steven the Viking” on Stormfront, has a long criminal history, with at least four arrests for battery between January 2000 and July 2005. He was released from prison in Florida in 2009 after serving two years for a felony battery conviction. He earlier was convicted in Texas for possessing marijuana.
On Oct. 15, 2011, Speers wrote on Stormfront that he needed legal help in a child custody struggle and didn’t have the “upfront money” to pay a lawyer. He wrote that the child’s mother had a restraining order against him that extended to his daughter. In a later, unrelated post, he extolled the virtues of nudity in a thread in which other posters criticized a young white woman for posing nude for a magazine feature called “Hot Homies.”
The Chicago meeting that was attacked – dubbed the 5th annual White Nationalist Economic Summit and Illinois White Nationalist Meet-and-Greet – was in the planning stage for months.
Shawn Thomas Vachet, 40, a former member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance and a moderator on Stormfront who writes there under the name “kayden,” posted invitations to the strategy session and urged supporters to attend. Vachet has drug-related convictions dating back more than 20 years. He has served time in prison and been arrested for a parole violation.
Vachet is also a big supporter and organizer for the so-called Upper Midwest Initiative, which is a plan to entice white Americans to move to five states in the Upper Midwest – South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska – and particularly to the Sioux Falls, S.D., area. As Vachet puts it, the group “helps kinfolk who want to make the move to the ‘Great White North.’” They should “move to an area that has more Whites (sic) than non-whites … and build racially conscious communities,” Vachet says in one Stormfront post.
In recent days, Vachet has faced criticism – and suspicion – from racists online for not attending the event he promoted. He has claimed his vehicle broke down about 90 miles outside of Chicago. On the White Reference forum, a commenter wrote: “I’ve heard something very strange, one of the top organizers of this thing was a guy who goes by the nickname “KAYDEN” over on Stormfront. He is also a honcho in the area NSM. He oddly DIDN’T SHOW UP for his own gathering. Anybody else smell a rat?”
The woman believed to have made the reservation for the luncheon meeting at the Ashford House restaurant identified herself as Beckie Williams to the local press. She goes by the name “sgathaich” on Stormfront. Williams is active in the Council of Conservative Citizens, a hate group formed from the old White Citizens Councils, the Southern white supremacist groups that fought against school desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s.
Mike Winston, co-owner of the Ashford House restaurant, told Hatewatch that Williams lied about the meeting’s purpose, saying it was for an Irish heritage group.
Anti-Racist Action took credit for the attack. About 18 masked attackers allegedly wielded bats and hammers, and threw chairs around, just as the lunch meeting got under way, said police in Tinley Park, Ill. Ten people were injured in the fracas, and five Indiana men were charged Monday for the attack.
Police say they’re still working to identify those who fled.
on May 23rd, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Class acts, all the way.
on May 23rd, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Will the male supremacists from the men’s rights movement rush to Mr. Speers defense?
Sounds like there were really good reasons to have a protective order keeping him away from his daughter.
on May 23rd, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Ruslan,
I believe you’ll agree with me in thinking this is pretty much par for the course.
on May 23rd, 2012 at 3:59 pm
So, just because they are racist (which is growing stronger on all racial fronts) it is okay for them to be beaten?
No, this is horrible and the criminals that actually used violence for no apparant reason should be punished, not the victims.
I am no supported of White Supremacy obviously, but supporting acts of violence and arresting the victims because they believe in something you don’t is in itself hatemongering and the same as racism.
on May 23rd, 2012 at 4:21 pm
No, this was not all right.
Evidently, their advertising on Stormfront is what enabled them to be tracked. That site is heavily monitored from a number of angles. The other diners in the restaurant were innocent bystanders, and it appears the owner was no more knowledgeable than they.
I have no idea what kind of score the attackers thought they were settling. In any case, that’s not how one goes about it. That is not even how one goes about committing violence in a “civilized” way, which, as everyone knows is:
1. Wait till your targets are outside, away from innocent bystanders.
2. Get one of them to throw the first punch, preferably in front of witnesses.
(Chi-town duel rules, Ch. 1)
on May 23rd, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Ah, Chicago, the birthplace of house music and the place where corrupt politicians gather. I have to go there someday.
on May 23rd, 2012 at 7:05 pm
In the interest of reporting ALL the facts, what were the names, ages, genders, criminal backgrounds and online user names/websites of the anti-racist attack squad members?
on May 23rd, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Much personal info included here regarding White Nationalists dining at that restaurant when the attack took place. Even info regarding a WN who was not in attendance. Strangely, nary a word about the five ARA thugs who sit in jail while this is being typed. I’m certain the SPLC does not have a dog in this fight. Nonetheless, one cannot help but wonder…. Just sayin’.
on May 24th, 2012 at 7:54 am
Herman, these were identified in an earlier thread as three brothers named Sutherlin, a man by the surname of Stuck, and one named Tucker. They were self-evidently males; their names and origin make it probable they were white, but I can’t vouch for that.
on May 24th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Both of these “men” need to be in LOCKUP forever.
on May 24th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Why didn’t HateWatch have an eye on the ARA? They seem like a pretty hate-filled group. If they had, they could have notified the proper authorities and prevented this terrible attack on restaurant diners. HateWatch has a lot on information on these white nationalists but not much on the left supremicists. Is there a reason for that? Let’s see more information on the leftist hate groups, there must be more that just this one ARA group.
on May 24th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Hey Al,
Why don’t you actually READ THE BLOG before you splutter out such utter nonsense next time.
on May 24th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Al, don’t be ridiculous. The Stormfront group posted the meeting on their site, well in advance, where anyone could have seen it; they did not advise the authorities or the restaurant of who they were or what they were doing. The attackers were five guys, and it looks like they kept their plans private. If squeaky wheels get greased, noisy flies get swatted. It’s clear which flies made the most noise in advance.
on May 24th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
” Let’s see more information on the leftist hate groups, there must be more that just this one ARA group.”
Ok, name some leftist hate groups then. As for ARA, did the SPLC not report on this attack? Oh wait, they did. Also, ARA is not a hierarchically organized group, and most of the time they do not commit violence unless you count shouting matches over walls of cops.
on May 24th, 2012 at 5:07 pm
“Herman, these were identified in an earlier thread as three brothers named Sutherlin, a man by the surname of Stuck, and one named Tucker.”
Raynardine, I was aware of that info. I was asking why police records of the five ARA thugs had not been published here. Time was spent gathering the criminal history of the victims. Why not have done the same for the attackers? Or was that presented earlier?
on May 24th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Al, if you’re upset about the amount of time that SPLC spends reporting on white nationalist hate groups, then find ways to mitigate their hatred so that SPLC doesn’t have so much to talk about. Your post suggests that you believe that SPLC has some duty to “balance” its reporting of right-wing hatred with an equal number of reports on left-wing hatred in order to appeal to your sense of “fairness”. But the purpose of this blog as I see it is to raise awareness of the activities that pose the greatest threat to human rights and social stability in this country, and whether the majority of these articles cover groups that you would categorize as “right-wing” should be less important than whether or not the information that SPLC provides is accurate. You may feel that right-wing groups are being demonized, but that might stop if they would quit acting like demons.
on May 24th, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Hey Reynardine, it wasn’t just 5 guys…did you even read the story? There were 18, only 5 were caught. They are looking for the rest.
I’ll side with the White Nationalists on this one. The HARM group did their cause a bad turn. Anytime you attack without knowing your who your targets are, you show your lack of intelligence.
on May 25th, 2012 at 9:07 am
Jo, can’t identify the unidentified. Meanwhile, Herman, maybe these guys don’t have records.
on May 25th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
What is it with Neo-Nazis and child porn, it seems to be a recurrent trope both here in the UK and in The USA?
on May 25th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
What has been the FBI’s involvement in this interstate hate crime?
on May 25th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Reynardine,
“Herman, maybe those guys don’t have records.”
Response:
The highest amount of $250,000 was pinned on Jason Sutherlin, 33.
Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Deno said that’s because he was convicted of an Indiana burglary in 1998. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but only served two. He successfully completed probation in 2008, Deno said.
on May 25th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Why can’t we just tell the honest truth here? Concerned White Citizens were attacked as they met over lunch by jewish supremacists and their tools. Period. Oh, that’s right. The SPLC is a jewish supremacist organization.
on May 26th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
$25000 what? He stole that much? There was that much of a reward for him? He was subject to a fine for such an amount? Federal or state? Took *you* a while to find that, didn’t you? The others?…
Everett, you are merely ridiculous. I hope you are not that baby who used to live down the block from me. *That* Everett used to be cute.
on May 26th, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Everett,
Somebody’s been reading a bit too much David Duke. You poor man, maybe you need a smack upside the head to knock some sense into you.
Ass.
on May 26th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
And Everett,
The only tool I’m seeing here is yourself…
on May 26th, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Yes, it’s all the Joooz, Everett. The Jooz are the reason you’re a failure in life.
on May 28th, 2012 at 1:03 am
“White” shouldn’t be capitalized if you’re not going to capitalize “Jewish”. Secondly, half y’all are just nazis posin’, the other half bored old people complaining that confrontation isn’t “the right way”. Guess what? No one cares.
on May 28th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
White, black, red, yellow, brown, etc., are capitalized only at the beginning of a sentence, unless they are part of a proper name or title, or shorthand for one. Jew, Christian, Muslim, Bhuddist, Jain, Democrat, and Republican are capitalized.
on May 29th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
White nationalists commonly capitalize “White” when referring to their people. Many Black nationalists do the same when referring to their own.
Depends, too, on how it’s being used. For instance, I describe the late Edward Kennedy as white. Similarly, I describe the 5 thugs arrested as white; however, the victims of the cowardly ARA attack I describe as White.
on May 29th, 2012 at 8:16 pm
Herman, that’s your personal idiolect.
on May 29th, 2012 at 10:58 pm
“White nationalists commonly capitalize “White” when referring to their people.”
Sadly, they have so much trouble defining who “their people” are.
on May 30th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Saw Stormfront mentioned in the OP. Checked it out. Somewhat surprised. Expected AH worship, Reich regalia, etc. Just another Eurocentric site, near as I could tell. Lacks the vitriol of La Raza, New Black Panthers, even ARA (Chicago). They sure seem to get a lot of press for what appears to be an operation so mild. Seems to be an older group of people (elderly?)
on May 30th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Right, like we’re going to believe this is the first time you’ve visited Stormfront. In the last 8-9 years, Stormfront has been trying to polish its image and appear more “respectable”, but it doesn’t take too much digging to see how idiotic the posters are, and to find all kinds of Nazi worship.
Here’s a brilliant, insightful post, is it not?
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t890657/
And what was that about Adolf Hitler worship?
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t888726/ (It even comes packaged with a laughably infantile logical fallacy!)
What was that about no hate toward ARA? Perhaps hate isn’t the right word; it’s butthurt.
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t888258/
The first two links I found in LESS THAN ONE MINUTE. The last, in less than two. So I have to ask, how stupid does a person have to be to make a claim that they should know will be debunked literally within seconds?
on May 30th, 2012 at 10:27 pm
I don’t know how you’re able to get those threads. I was limited to “Guest” forum. In that section they have an “Opposing Views” section. People there are saying anything they care to, many comments defaming whites.
Regarding hatred directed at the ARA, who can blame such reaction? 15-20 armed thugs (bats and hammers) attacking middle-aged, unarmed diners. Disgusting and most cowardly. I’m hoping “the book” is thrown at them.
on May 31st, 2012 at 8:44 am
How did Ruslan get those threads, Herman? He’s intelligent.
on May 31st, 2012 at 8:46 am
Ruslan, you do seem to have ventured intrepidly into cesspool ground where few of us care to. Are you in any way connected to the equally intrepid Rabbit of Caerbannog?
on May 31st, 2012 at 10:01 am
I have no account on that site and I can see absolutely everything. I have been in the anti-forum in the past and can tell you that it is heavily moderated and censored. You can also tell by the way prominent SFers get owned when they step off their protected forums. Hell, even WNs on Stormfront complain of censorship.
on May 31st, 2012 at 11:08 am
One thing we can agree on, cyberspace and the msm are abuzz over the incident. Gonna be interestin’ to see just how much behind-the-scenes political clout the financial supporters/strategists for the ARA have in the “Windy City,.” (and whether or not they choose to exercise that influence in this particular case).
on May 31st, 2012 at 11:15 am
Actually, Herman, a lot of us are still discussing this stuff while standing down from changing tires, writing novels, shovelling manure, etc. In short, we’ve either got nothing better to do, or we’re tired of doing it. The thing is fading to just another Windy City brawl.
on May 31st, 2012 at 12:38 pm
In that case–and come June 11–we can switch our attentions to Emma West’s trial.
But back to the “Chicago 5″ for the moment, any predictions on the outcome of that trial?
on May 31st, 2012 at 8:12 pm
I fancy, Herman, that you mean those five who started a brawl.
1. Battery
2. Drunken and disorderly (maybe)
3. Destruction of private property
4. Breach of the peace
5. Public urination (maybe).
Political animus doesn’t count as a hate crime, and this wasn’t election violence. If some of the victims were disabled and/or over 65, that and crossing a state line to carry out the attack could give rise to federal jurisdiction.
on May 31st, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Actually, Herman, I gave you the more likely counts of the indictment, and if there were federal counts, the state counts could be considered with them under pendant jurisdiction. There were evidently quite a few witnesses, but how good a look they got, the skill of the prosecution and defense, what the judge ate for breakfast, and how badly the jurors’ischial bones hurt them after hours and days of pressure all bear on the outcome. Don’t predict anything.
on June 1st, 2012 at 3:15 am
Well, in White Nationalist Fantasy Land(e.g Stormfront or VNN), the trial will probably go like this:
Judge dismisses all charges against the ARA members.
The ARA members are each awarded Congressional Medals of Honor for “race-mixing” (because everyone knows that white anti-racists are just acting out of white guilt and are mortified at the idea of having white babies).
The victims in the attack are killed in mysterious “accidents”, most of which involve auto-erotic asphyxiation and other let us say, less-savory activities. The “Jooz” are always smearing upstanding White Nationalists with dirty tricks, such as inventing child pornography(yes, inventing it) and installing 2 gigs of said pornography onto the computer of innocent WNs!
Obama declares himself president for life, declares martial law, and takes total control of the US government. But the Jooz are still in control…also.
White people become outlawed and thus all white people are required to marry non-white members of the same sex.
So there you have the White Nationalist projection of events in the next few months.
on June 1st, 2012 at 8:33 am
Thank you for explaining Moonfront Republicans, Ruslan, but you left out the part where some of the mysterious deaths will be of those found expired in the embraces of plugged-in vacuum cleaners.
on June 1st, 2012 at 10:17 am
Ruslan,
Excellent distillation but you left out one key element. The WN’s not only have to marry a non-white but a non-white of the same sex.
on June 1st, 2012 at 10:59 am
No, Gregory, he did say. But he didn’t specify the color of the vacuum cleaners, which are usually red, maroon, or battleship gray.
on June 1st, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Oddly, as I scrolled down, it seemed I read, “Racists arrested after Chicago attack have a long history of atavism…”
on June 1st, 2012 at 6:31 pm
Rey,
Just sayin’ that any unified field theory of WN conspiracy must include the homosexual agenda. References to surrendering their guns next to bonfires of burning bibles while boarding buses to FEMA camps are inferred.
on June 1st, 2012 at 6:48 pm
http://patdollard.com/2012/05/.....mers-bats/
From the above link:
The Anti-Racist Action Group (ARA) is a “radical left-wing group” that often resorts to violent acts, said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization based in Montgomery, Ala. The attack, he said, “did more harm to the cause of fighting racism than almost anyone can imagine.”
on June 1st, 2012 at 10:30 pm
“The fascists of the future will call themselves anti-fascists”.
– Sir Winston Churchill
on June 2nd, 2012 at 9:20 am
So Herman, are you pro- or anti-fascist?
on June 2nd, 2012 at 10:33 am
But Winston was wrong. They called themselves anti-Communists, just like the fascists of the past.
on June 2nd, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Incidentally, Gregory, in the UK, a white construction worker was evidently arrested for miscegenation with a Henry Hoover shop vac, which was red, with a face painted on. I’ve never seen a white vacuum cleaner, which means they are off limits for WNs.
(Note: at least the outcome was not fatal).
on June 2nd, 2012 at 11:58 pm
Yes Herman, Winston Churchill was getting senile in the latter days of his tenure as Prime Minister. That’s why he was voted out of office before the war ended.
on June 3rd, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Ruslan Amirkhanov said,
on June 2nd, 2012 at 11:58 pm
“Yes Herman, Winston Churchill was getting senile in the latter days of his tenure as Prime Minister. That’s why he was voted out of office before the war ended.”
Apparently not that senile. 1951 found him, once again, England’s Prime Minister.
on June 3rd, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Aron said,
on June 2nd, 2012 at 9:20 am
“So Herman, are you pro- or anti-fascist?”
So, Aron, do you still beat your significant other?
See? I, too, can be silly.
on June 3rd, 2012 at 6:25 pm
I believe this is where the “Chicago 5″ presently reside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXhoZCwr6rA
on June 3rd, 2012 at 6:48 pm
As for Churchill’s quote, has anyone ever seen the original citation? I believe the Churchill Society has gone on record that there is no evidence this can be attributed to him.
on June 4th, 2012 at 9:39 am
It’s true that Winston Churchill was returned to office for one last time in the post-War period, but a dog of war is not necessarily a parlor companion for a time of peace; though India (including the portions that became West and East Pakistan) had received Dominion status before that, his heavy-handedness and failing health presided over a further noticeable shrinkage in the British Empire. I do not know if he uttered the quote in question; but, damme, it’s wrong.
on June 4th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a fake quote. White Nationalists love fake quotes.
And Herman, asking someone if they are pro or anti fascism is not “are you still beating your wife?” The latter is a yes/no question which always turns out negative regardless of how you answer. Asking whether one is this or that provides two answers.
on June 4th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Herman,
I wasn’t trying to be funny. And you managed to duck the question.
And regarding your gotcha di tutti gatchi I’ve never had a significant other. Right now I’m far too busy for a relationship, and that would make beating them difficult. So try again, please.
on June 4th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Am I the only one here who finds “Your comment is awaiting moderation” a pain?
Talk about interruption of dramatic continuity…jeez!
on June 5th, 2012 at 8:50 am
No, you aren’t. I have the same thing happen nearly all the time.
on June 5th, 2012 at 9:08 am
In fact, I have a feeling our comments get moderated only when someone gets time to come into the back room and check us goldfish.
I notice, by the way, that since the article about the manosphere was posted, they seem willing to allow us a slightly greater degree of ribaldry. I probably wouldn’t even have to write the number that comes before 70 as LXIX.
on June 5th, 2012 at 9:46 am
Aron, where did you get that specimine of sh*talian? I’ve heard assorted pidjins (as well as pigeons), but not that kind.
on June 5th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
Thanks, Rey! Since Herman’s question is regarded as the ultimate ‘gotcha,’ I simply renamed it after the Mafia’s ‘capo di tutti capi’ or ‘boss of all bosses.’
One might say that piece of ‘Sh*talian’ was pulled right out of the place it’s most commonly found.
And Herman, I’m still waiting for an answer.
on June 6th, 2012 at 9:26 am
Aron said,
on June 5th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
And Herman, I’m still waiting for an answer.
Work your way back through this thread and you will see that my posts are germane to the topic presented in the OP. If the question had been asked, “So, Herman, are you pro-ARA or pro-WN” I would have answered that I’m pro-WN.
on June 6th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Well you can choose to be a loser or choose to be normal I guess.
on June 6th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Herman,
You have once again managed to duck my question.
While it is nice for you to admit to being a white nationalist, I am still waiting to hear your stance on Fascism.
After all, you were the one who brought up the false Churchill quote equating Fascism with anti-Fascism.
You are a coward. Nothing less. Otherwise you would answer my question.
on June 6th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Aron said,
on June 6th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Herman,
“You are a coward. Nothing less. Otherwise you would answer my question.”
You can neither anger nor embarrass me, Aron. I never take the bait. Never.
Now then, has this thread been sufficiently derailed that no further discussion regarding the incident in Chicago is to take place? If so…
on June 6th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Herman,
I was trying to neither anger nor embarrass you. I am trying to get a straight answer out of you.
But since that’s not happening, kindly leave us to our comment section. You haven’t managed to contribute anything meaningful.
on June 7th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Aron, note his ending. He intended to derail this thread.
on June 7th, 2012 at 11:43 am
My goodness. You’re right, Rey. I do believe I’ve been bamboozled.
on June 7th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Aron, “Bamboozle” is the name I gave to a certain plant I kidnapped while out on a nature walk. (I am, after all, bamboozled as to just what species of bamboozle it is)