Friday, June 26, 2009

Your tax dollars at work: The wages of neo-Nazi toil -- A federal paycheck.


Folks,

I offer this as background to the next post coming up about a certain Net Nazi in the news. It is an oldie but a goodie and illustrates a question I've had since the 90s.

Is there anything the neo-Nzis and Mistaken Identities do that ISN'T paid for by the FBI?

Mike
III


Neo-Nazi rally was organized by FBI informant

Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted February 15, 2007

A paid FBI informant was the man behind a neo-Nazi march through the streets of Parramore that stirred up anxiety in Orlando's black community and fears of racial unrest that triggered a major police mobilization.

That revelation came Wednesday in an unrelated federal court hearing and has prompted outrage from black leaders, some of whom demanded an investigation into whether the February 2006 march was, itself, an event staged by law-enforcement agencies.

The FBI would not comment on what it knew about the involvement of its informant, 39-year-old David Gletty of Orlando, in the neo-Nazi event. In court Wednesday, an FBI agent said the bureau has paid its informant at least $20,000 during the past two years.

"Wow," Gletty said when reached by phone late Wednesday. "It is what it is. You were there in court. I can't really go into any detail now."

Orlando City Councilwoman Daisy Lynum, whose district includes the march route west of Interstate 4, said she wants to know who was behind the march, the neo-Nazis or the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies.

"If it was staged, I would feel very uncomfortable and would ask for a full-scale investigation," Lynum said. "To come into a predominantly black community which could have resulted in great harm to the black community? I would hate to be part of a game. It's a mockery to the community for someone else to be playing a game with the community."

Others applauded the FBI's infiltration of the neo-Nazis.

"It's one of the largest extremist groups in the country, and Gletty was one of the most visible individuals in the National Socialist Movement," said Andy Rosenkranz, state regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. "Generally, the FBI and the JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force) in Florida does an excellent job."

Rally puts city in spotlight

Orlando drew national attention when the city granted a permit to Gletty so a minimum of 100 white supremacists and National Socialist Movement members could march Feb. 25 through the historically black Parramore neighborhood.

Wearing swastikas and holding signs declaring "White Pride," the 22 neo-Nazis who turned out were protected from 500 counterprotesters by about 300 police officers.

Gletty's secret life became public Wednesday in a federal court hearing resulting from the arrest last week of two suspected white supremacists on charges of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.

Last Thursday, the FBI arrested Tom Martin, 23, and John Rock, 35, after Gletty wore a wire to a meeting and agreed to help them rob a drug dealer in Casselberry, according to testimony.

Rock told Gletty in a tape-recorded conversation that he and Martin had robbed seven drug dealers by posing as law-enforcement officers, according to testimony. Martin and Rock remain held without bail in the Seminole County Jail.

Slip-up lets name out of bag

Throughout most of the hearing, Gletty was referred to as "Mr. X" or "CW" (cooperating witness). His identity was revealed when Assistant Federal Public Defender Peter W. Kenny repeatedly slipped up and mentioned Gletty's full name.

FBI agent Kevin Farrington and a federal prosecutor were clearly uncomfortable with the disclosure of the informant's name in open court.

Questioned about Gletty's role in the march, Farrington testified that "he participated in it. He did not organize it. . . . [That's] pretty good firsthand information, sir."

The city parade permit, however, lists Gletty as the "on scene event manager."

And pictures of Gletty addressing marchers sporting swastika armbands for the Orlando rally appear on a neo-Nazi Web site. Captions from other photos on the site mock the counterdemonstrators and the police presence.

On another Web site, Gletty details his role in organizing the Orlando event and hosting a victory party afterward.

"On 1/17/06 I got the permits and started the ball rolling," he writes. "On 2/25/06 at 3 pm on saturday [sic] in downtown Orlando My crew and I got it done."

In another part of the posting, he writes: "Since I was the permit holder I was the person to deal with the police and had over-all authority of the event."

No word from FBI

FBI officials did not return calls asking for specifics about the agency's relationship with Gletty. A tree-trimmer in Orlando, he withdrew from the National Socialist Movement last fall to pursue other projects, Farrington testified.

Orlando police Deputy Chief Pete Gauntlett, who supervised the march preparations, would not say what the FBI told police about Gletty and other marchers.

"We let them express their free speech and let them do what they're allowed to do, but we wanted to have control," Gauntlett said.

Bill White, a former spokesman for the National Socialist Movement who participated in the rally and now runs another neo-Nazi group, said he was surprised to hear of Gletty's involvement with the FBI. He said Gletty did a lot for the cause.

A neo-Nazi offers his take

"If he was being sponsored by the FBI, then American National Socialism has a lot to thank the FBI for," White said in an e-mail.

Lynum said that if the FBI was behind the march, she would like the agency to reimburse the city for the tens of thousands it spent to send officers -- including SWAT-team and mounted-unit members -- to police the march.

Adora Obi Nweze, president of the State Conference NAACP in Miami, said she was disturbed an informant set up the march and was working for the FBI.

"That's very troubling that somebody like that would be an informant for the FBI," she said. "You never know what they are capable of. No question, it bothers me."

But Alzo Reddick, a former state legislator who grew up in segregated Orlando, lived through KKK marches and later taught black history, said he was proud of the way the police and the community responded. He was a member of the "Be Cool" movement organized to calm the community before the march.

"I think law enforcement has to walk in some murky places to be where the bad guys are," Reddick said. "Was the FBI informant an activist or a participant? Was he the agent provocateur from the get-go? Sure, that would be part of what I'd like to know."

4 comments:

A Texan said...

It seems to me that the FBI and other agencies have a vested interest in stirring up the strawman of violent racism, terrorism, etc. No, I don't dismiss the fact that people who have nothing to do with these agencies both exist and are very dangerous - and those people need to be investigated and, if the facts bear out that they've committed a crime, prosecuted. However, by keeping things so visible - by MAKING and FACILITATING that visibility - they ensure that their jobs are very secure, and that the measures that they pressure Congress and their respective statest to enact are passed with little or no opposition. How conveeeeenient!

Government creates a problem and then, oh-so-fortuitously, has the solution. That solution has never, IMHO, resulted in an expansion or even a restoration of the personal liberties of the citizens of this nation. It may not be a gigantic, multi-generational conspiracy (and it almost certainly isn't, as no conspiracy that large could remain intact or secret), but that simply doesn't matter - the effect is the same: we as a people are being slowly but surely tamed and caged.

straightarrow said...

Alright Mike, I'm going to be disagreeable here. C'mon, what do you mean this is a question that has bothered you since the '90's?

How the Hell could it have even been a question in your mind? Don't you remember the civil unrest of the '60's and '70's and every "subversive" group that was 'rounded up and prosecuted'?

Christ, all of them had FBi undercover operators in them and some of them had a majority of FBI undercover operators. Those people were the ones planning and executing the crimes(?) the few stupid saps were the ones prosecuted for those crimes. Yet not one of the fibbies was ever prosecuted even though in many cases they were the drivers of the allegedly illegal activity. And nobody got off on entrapment defense.

So, how can you have had a question about these tactics for twl decades when the tactic has been used previously? And we haven't even mentioned the '50's when a great number of communist cells were populated by mostly
FBI.

I have no particular affinity for any of the groups mentioned above, but I do have a great love of the constitution and the laws which abide it. This crap, not so much.

Anonymous said...

I think Mr Gletty needs to watch his back for a very, very long time.
I would not be surprised to hear, after all this upset had died down, that Mr Gletty had suffered a terrible accident or mugging in a bad part of town.
Lie down with FIBBER dogs, get up with fleas.

B Woodman
III

wholebrainer said...

Maybe it IS nothing but more-of-the-same, but still, a new generation (and some of us not-so-new) need to be reminded that no "government" especially when it gets as bloated as ours is above creating some pure and simple "job security" as A(nother) Texan said, above.

As for me, I intend to use this and the even more sickening news of the Lord and Lady Conyers' (sp?) cases with my home schooled high schooler. Could there be better examples of what 'V' was fighting against in "V for Vendetta"? (She has been analyzing the movie in an essay as part of a summer school study of the book, "Whatever Happened to Justice" (http://www.bluestockingpress.com/
whatever-happened-to-justice.htm)

Patriots: Please consider this a super-easy must-read not only for you, but for all your 8th-graders and up especially if they're in public school (along with all of Richard Maybury's other 'Uncle Eric' books). "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy" is the companion economics-lesson.

Sincerely,
Another Texan