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Neo-Nazi Financier Arrested in New Mexico
 
 
Ten years ago, white supremacist millionaire Vincent Bertollini moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, because, he said, its population was "98% Adamic, white, Aryan people." Being on the lam for the last five years must have compromised his values. When arrested last April 12, he was living in Santa Fe, N.M., where over 50% of the population is Hispanic, mostly of Mexican descent.

Bertollini was taken into custody as "Richard Bert" -- the name on the check he was cashing when caught by FBI task force agents and that he also sometimes used in Idaho, where he owned properties under the moniker. In Santa Fe, where Bertollini has a daughter named Lauri Kosky, agents found nine firearms, including a sawed-off shotgun, in his truck. He's now facing up to 10 years in prison.

Bertollini had been on the run since skipping court on his third set of drunken driving charges in Sandpoint, where his 11th Hour Remnant Messenger group was headquartered. The group espoused Christian Identity theology -- including the notions that Jews are biologically satanic and people of color have no souls -- and was co-founded by Carl Story, a friend Bertollini got rich with in the early 1990s through the sale of their Systems Chemistry computer firm.

After moving with Story from California's Silicon Valley to Idaho, Bertollini became the leading financial supporter and public advocate for the late Richard Butler, founder and leader of the Aryan Nations until his death in late 2004. But the Aryan Nations and Butler lost a 2000 suit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center, forcing Butler to sell the Aryan Nations compound that long had been a key meeting place of the radical right.

Bertollini stood by his man. After the sale, he marched alongside Butler in a parade in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, telling the local newspaper that Butler was the "only man standing up for the white race in America that I know of, and doing it in a reasonable way." Bertollini also bought Butler a house in town.

At one point, Bertollini reportedly told FBI agents to leave alone "true patriots" like imprisoned white supremacist Alex Curtis, and concentrate instead on "Mexican terrorists" -- people, presumably, like his recent neighbors in Santa Fe.

 
 
 
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A Few Bad Men
Issue 122 | Summer 2006
 
EDITORIAL
Extremism and the Military
IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES
Schism Threatens 'White Nationalist' Group
The Jewish Question Redux
The Groups
The New Racialists
A SKINHEAD'S SECRET
John Daly is Jewish
BIG BANG
Machine Gun Shoot Attracts All Kinds
WHITE HOT
Immigration Debate Fuels Racist Extremism
PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE
Christian Meeting Turns Into Attack on Gays
BRIEFS
NSM Attack Sparks Rift
KKK Suit Ends With Award to Victims
Neo-Nazi Financier Arrested
Alabama Candidate Attacks Jews
Top SCV Attorney Indicted
Newspapers Inflated Minuteman Numbers
Boy Murdered Next to Nazi 'Compound'
Dobbs Slams Illegal Immigration
FLDS Leader Faces New Charges
Snapshot: SCV Protest
The Blotter: Extremism and the Law
Overheard: Quotes from the Right
INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS
BNP Gains Shock Political Establishment
Racist Attacks Roil Russia
Pyramid Scheme Founder Arrested
Holocaust Denier Sentenced
MEDIA ON THE RIGHT
Simcox Stars in Anti-Immigration Movement
LEGAL BRIEF
Burying Funeral Protests
THE LAST WORD
Shopping the Extremist Swap Meet