Long-time racist August B. Kreis III says he’s stepping down as leader of a splinter faction of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations, just weeks after being convicted of federal fraud-related charges.

Kreis, who’s reported to be suffering from diabetes-related health problems, doesn’t give a specific reason for quitting in his Internet posting, but says his successor is Pastor Drew Bostwick, who has lived in Iowa and been active in the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. ( continue to full post… )

The key witness who assisted the Justice Department in last week’s successful prosecution of former Aryan Nations attorney Edgar Steele will spend 27 months in prison for building pipe bombs in a murder-for-hire plot.

Larry Fairfax, a 49-year-old handyman, contacted the FBI last year after he was approached by Edgar Steele and given $10,000 in silver coins to build pipe bombs to kill Steele’s wife, Cyndi, and her mother.

What Fairfax didn’t immediately tell the FBI was that he already had placed one of armed explosive devices on Cyndi Steele’s vehicle and it was there when she drove from North Idaho to Oregon.

The pipe bomb was discovered during an oil change on the vehicle shortly before Edgar Steele was arrested by the FBI and arraigned on federal charges related to the plot. A second pipe bomb – planted for a cover story – was successfully removed from a vehicle driven by Edgar Steele. ( continue to full post… )

Last week, a slew of Canadian media outlets reported that the country’s most notorious white supremacist, Paul Fromm, had organized a protest against a boat of Tamil asylum seekers docked near Victoria, British Columbia. In a rare group show of interest in Fromm’s thoughts, the Canadian press allowed him to broadcast his desire to curtail non-white immigration and maintain “ethnic balance.”

Fromm, who founded and directs the hate-spewing, but mildly titled Canada First Immigration Reform Committee, is one of very few veteran professional racists in Canada. Fromm is also popular in the U.S., where he serves in a leadership position for the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens and spends a lot of time speaking at events put on by other American racist groups. ( continue to full post… )

Yet another associate of Canada’s beleaguered Aryan Guard has landed in jail.

John Richard Marleau — a white supremacist who has attended most of the neo-Nazi group’s events, though he claims not to be an official member — faces multiple charges in connection with an attempted stabbing this week on a Calgary city train (CTrain).

According to a city of Calgary news release, the incident occurred shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 4, when an emergency button was activated on a CTrain. After being told that the button had been pressed accidentally, the driver stopped the train and left his cab to deactivate the button. As he entered the center car, a knife-wielding man darted toward him. With his would-be attacker in pursuit, the driver ran back to his cab, locked himself inside, and called law enforcement. When police caught up with the suspect at a train platform nearby, Marleau allegedly removed the knife from his jacket and waved it in front of him. After he refused to drop the knife, police subdued him with a Taser and took him into custody.

Marleau, a 22-year-old Calgary resident, was charged with three counts of assault with a weapon, and one count each of illegal possession of a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and causing a disturbance. The driver was unharmed.

The Quebec Media Agency reported yesterday that the driver was a minority. However, a Calgary police spokeswoman told Hatewatch that she could not confirm the driver’s race or reveal whether the attack was racially motivated, saying details would emerge during court proceedings. ( continue to full post… )

After a two-hour standoff at a home in Winnipeg, police arrested a notorious Canadian neo-Nazi who’d been on the lam for weeks after two bombing attempts in Calgary.

Kyle Robert Mckee, 24, was taken into custody early yesterday and faces two counts of attempted murder, along with weapons charges. Police began searching for him after they found two homemade bombs outside an apartment in northeast Calgary. A 17-year-old who also faces charges in connection with the Nov. 21 attempted bombing was arrested two days later as he stepped off a bus in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. (That individual cannot be named under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act.)

McKee has been a key member of the Aryan Guard, a neo-Nazi group that garnered considerable media attention for annual “white pride” marches through downtown Calgary in 2008 and 2009. Shortly after the failed bombings, the group announced on its website that it was disbanding, then reversed itself in a subsequent online posting. The first statement suggested that a romantic spat led to the bombing that allegedly involved McKee. “A boiling point was reached among the group when a bombing attack was launched against the former girlfriend of the obsessed John Marleau – an associate of the Aryan Guard,” read the notice. “We were further disappointed when allegations surfaced against one of the founding members [McKee] for their alleged role in the attack. It’s sad to see how a group founded on hard work and good intentions of so many can be spoiled by the rash actions of so few.” (In a post on the blog Anti-Racist Canada, Marleau said he was investigated after the attack, but does not currently face charges.) Although Aryan Guard members have been linked to violent attacks on minorities, none of that was mentioned in the announcement, which waxed nostalgic about the group’s “family camping trips, barbecues … and even karaoke at the local pub.”

Several days later, a second notice appeared on the group’s website announcing that it was not folding after all. “The recent statement of dissolution by a few rogue ex-council members in no way heralds the end of the Aryan Guard,” it said. “If anything, we will function far more efficiently without the bureaucratic, half-assed diplomacy of three tired old farts who have no stomach for street life.” The new leaders adopted a more militant tone than their predecessors, lashing out at immigrants and race traitors and promising “a new day of carnage and brutality.”

That’s if the group manages to stay together. Founded in 2006 with help from Canada’s two most prominent white supremacists, the Aryan Guard has been dogged by infighting; it almost collapsed in late 2008. Earlier this year, one of its members was convicted of assaulting a Japanese visitor.

A prominent member of a Canadian neo-Nazi group is wanted for attempted murder in connection with two bombings in Calgary.

Police announced Monday that they’re looking for 24-year-old Kyle Robert McKee, along with a 17-year-old who cannot be publicly identified under Canadian law because he’s considered a juvenile. Besides attempted murder, they both face charges of possessing, making or controlling explosives, and possession of a weapon or imitation for a dangerous purpose.

No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred on Saturday around 7:15 a.m. in northeast Calgary. After someone reported hearing gunshots, police found what appeared to be an improvised explosive devise (a homemade bomb, or IED) in a large parking lot between two apartment complexes. The IED had been detonated. A second IED that also had been detonated was discovered near the scene.

McKee, a slight man with a shaved head, has “Kill Jews” tattooed on his shins. He often acts as spokesman for the Aryan Guard, a racist gang whose “white pride” marches have caused a stir in Canada’s third-largest city. However, police say there’s no evidence that the bombings were hate crimes. “The victims in this case knew the offenders and share similar beliefs and values,” stated a news release from the City of Calgary.

Police haven’t released further details about a motive. However, former Aryan Guard member Tyler Sturrup identified himself as one of the victims on his Facebook page, according to Anti-Racist Canada, a blog that covers the Aryan Guard. Sturrup had left the group to help form the Western European Brotherhood (W.E.B.). W.E.B. participated in the Aryan Guard’s 2008 and 2009 marches through downtown Calgary to celebrate “white pride,” though recently there’d been friction between the two groups.

The Aryan Guard was founded in 2006 with help from the country’s two best known white supremacists, Paul Fromm of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, and National Socialist Party of Canada leader Terry Tremaine. Though the bombings apparently were not bias crimes, the Aryan Guard has been linked to several assaults on minorities, including the beating of a Japanese visitor in July 2008 by a 17-year-old group member. The group has roughly 20 full-fledged members, many of whom have criminal records, along with 20 to 30 associates.