Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 16, 1993 TAG: 9307160066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
A federal and local task force made the arrests in four Southern California counties and seized a large arsenal of guns and pipe bombs, Nazi paraphernalia and pictures of Adolf Hitler.
One of the eight was arrested as he was preparing a letter bomb to be sent to a rabbi, authorities said.
Other potential targets mentioned by members of the Fourth Reich Skin Heads were leaders of both the NAACP and the Urban League; Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan; the Rev. Al Sharpton, a New York activist; Danny Bakewell of the Brotherhood Crusade in Los Angeles; and rap music stars.
FBI agent Charlie Parsons told a news conference the plotters wanted to "help start a race war. That was their motivation."
"We prevented despicable and violent acts from occurring," he said.
The arrests resulted from a 1 1/2-year investigation in which agents infiltrated white supremacist groups, including the Florida-based Church of the Creator and the White Aryan Resistance.
An undercover agent was able to persuade the white supremacists to let him store the weapons, ski masks and other items for safekeeping, Parsons said.
Of the eight people arrested, only one - Christopher David Fisher, 20, of Long Beach - was charged specifically with conspiring to attack and destroy the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, a major religious hub for blacks in South Central Los Angeles.
Fisher was identified as the leader of the Fourth Reich Skin Heads, whose members included at least 18 minors, authorities said.
Five other adults were charged with weapons offenses: Geremy Rineman, 22, and Jill Scarborough, 22, both of Orange County; Josh Lee, 23, of Costa Mesa; and Chris Nadal, 35, and Doris Nadal, 42, of Los Angeles.
Two unidentified minors also were arrested, but the charges weren't disclosed.
U.S. Attorney Terree Bowers said prosecutors were reviewing the evidence and may charge others with plotting to blow up the church and kill King, the black motorist who was beaten by white police officers in 1991. The acquittals of four officers in a state trial triggered last year's riots.
"I, like many other persons, do feel a little frightened when threats are made, but this is one chapter in my life that I'd like to shut the door on . . . We're wore out," King told reporters at his lawyer's office.
The undercover agent heard Fourth Reich Skin Head members brag about planning to destroy the First AME Church and kill the congregation with machine-gun fire, Parsons said. The Fourth Reich Skin Head members also allegedly planned to kill King.
Fisher was arrested as he and two unidentified juveniles were preparing a letter bomb intended for an Orange County rabbi, authorities said.
by CNB