ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 1, 1996 TAG: 9604010075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: COLUMBUS, OHIO
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
note: below
For nearly two years, a gang of bank robbers roamed the Midwest, displaying a warped sense of humor, a fondness for pipe bombs and sympathy for the militia movement.
Depending on the season, they left their bombs in a Santa's hat or nestled in the grass of an Easter basket. In one holdup, they wore caps that said ATF, as in the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - the agency involved in the fiery siege in Waco, Texas, in 1993. They rented a getaway car in the name of an FBI agent involved in the 1992 shootings at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
In letters and cartoons mailed to newspapers, they signed themselves the ``Mid-Western Bank Bandits.''
Now, with two suspects in custody, federal officials think the robbers went by another name as well: the Aryan Republican Army.
Law enforcement officials and trackers of the extremist right say the gang's story will open an important window on the financing of militant white supremacists. Authorities have suspected that some in the ``patriot movement'' are committing crimes to build up their treasuries, following the example of The Order, a right-wing revolutionary group that stole millions during the 1980s. If investigators are correct, the Midwestern bank bandits may provide the first solid evidence that large amounts of stolen money continue to flow to hate groups today.
The two suspects - Richard Lee Guthrie Jr. and Peter Kevin Langan - allegedly are dedicated to the overthrow of the government, the slaying of Jews and the deportation of blacks. Authorities think they and their partners have provided more than $500,000 in ill-gotten gains to notorious groups whose goals they share.
Special Agent Jim Nelson, who heads the FBI office in St. Louis, told the Los Angeles Times that the government is investigating whether at least $250,000 in unrecovered stolen bank money was funneled to the Aryan Nations and people who were affiliated with the Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord, a paramilitary group active in Arkansas during the 1980s. Both groups believe the U.S. government has become tyrannical and must be confronted.
Guthrie was arrested in West Virginia in 1991 in connection with a bogus-refund scam at Kmart stores through which, he told sheriff's deputies, he raised at least $250,000. At the time, he also told them that he sent the bulk of the money to the Aryan Nations. He disappeared after his father posted bond.
A half-million dollars ``is a significant amount for a terrorist underground,'' said Mike Reynolds, senior intelligence analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which compiles information about the ultra-right.
The bombing plot that destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building, for example, has been estimated to have cost about $10,000 - $3,000 for materials and $7,000 for other expenses.
Guthrie was taken into custody in Cincinnati on Jan. 15 for a solo bank robbery. He has not entered any plea, but has been talking with investigators while being held in Covington, Ky., law enforcement sources said.
Langan was arrested here Jan. 18 in a van behind the flat Guthrie had rented under a false name. He has pleaded not guilty to resisting arrest and is awaiting arraignment on charges of two bank robberies in Ohio.
U.S. attorneys in 19 districts are weighing robbery and weapon charges against the pair. Thomas Lusby, who heads the FBI office in Omaha, Neb., and is coordinating the probe, alleges that from 1994 until late last year Guthrie and Langan were responsible for 18 robberies in seven states.
Langan, 37, was born in the Marianas Islands and lived in Vietnam. His father was an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. At 16, Langan ran away from home.
Guthrie, 38, joined the Navy and tried but failed to join the elite Seals, who work with explosives. He was court-martialed and left the service in 1983, records show.
From April 1994 until the fall of 1995, Langan and Guthrie shared a house in Pittsburg, Kan., with a third man, the FBI's Lusby said.
After their arrests, according to court documents, Langan's van was found to contain a small arsenal of weapons, one of which was in a hollowed-out Bible. In the house were 13 pipe bombs, seven handguns, yellow smoke grenades, police uniforms, FBI hats, wigs and an amateurish two-hour videotape.
The group's goals, as explained on the tape by a man wearing a hard hat and Richard Nixon mask, are these: ``Eliminate the government, from the federal government to the county seats. Exterminate Hymie. Repatriate all nonwhites to their homes. Return the country to the Bible - these laws.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB