Between 300-500 fliers from the white nationalist neo-Nazi group appeared in driveways across parts of the county this week.Ed Bell, 63, of Bonita Springs received a flier.
“I went to get my Sunday paper, and this was right next to it,” Bell said. “At least six or seven houses on my street had them.”
Bell said he was concerned about the hateful message in the fliers, and he wanted people to know about them.
“I know it’s free speech ... but it’s still very divisive,” he said.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office, has received no complaints about the fliers, said spokesman Tony Schall.
The fliers were delivered in clear plastic with a small rock inside to keep them from blowing away.
The small flier contained an image of Benjamin Franklin and contains the following quote allegedly uttered by the Founding Father: “There is a great danger for the United States of America. This great danger is the Jew.”
Franklin, however, never said those words.
The quote, first published in 1934 in “The Franklin Prophecy,” has been used by anti-Semitic groups ever since, according to Andy Rosenkranz, the Florida regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
“It’s a complete forgery,” he said. “They’re not concerned with the truth. ... I haven’t seen this in a long time.”
Rosenkranz said residents should report the fliers to his organization and law enforcement.
Paul Mullet, the national director of Aryan Nations, said the fliers went out as a recruitment tool.
“It’s to let people know the Jews are creating big problems in this country and the white race is slowly dying,” said Mullet, adding that there has been a good response to the fliers distributed in Bonita Springs and surrounding areas.
“I got several calls from people in that area,” he said.
Mullet complained about Jews, the proposed mosque near ground zero, a black president, the NAACP and the New Black Panther Party. Mullet also insisted Aryan Nations isn’t a hate group.
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