The Municipal Court in Brno Thursday sentenced six members of the Czech outlawed far-right Workers' Party (DS) to fines and probation over public racist statements they made at the May Day rally in Brno in 2009, state attorney Jan Lata told CTK. The defendants received four to six months' suspended sentences and were fined 20,000-30,000 crowns. Lata said the defendants had incited hatred for immigrants and some ethnic groups, Romanies in particular, with their statements. One of them supported a movement suppressing human rights and freedoms. Former party leader Tomas Vandas said Thursday it was incredible that some people were being tried over expressing their views at a legal public rally. Vandas said the accusations were expedient. At the demonstration last year, Vandas warned of immigration and spoke on behalf of "decent" citizens at the housing project Janov in Litvinov, north Bohemia. Vandas went on to speak about a destructive immigration wave. DS members Jiri Stepanek and Petr Kotab criticised Vietnamese crime.
The Prague Monitor
Saturday, 20 November 2010
UN-BACKED CONFERENCE RAISES AWARENESS OF EVILS OF ANTI-SEMITISM (Ireland)
In continuing efforts to ensure that the crime of genocide does not occur again, the United Nations co-sponsored on November 18 2010 a conference in Ireland to discuss both the historical and contemporary contexts of anti-Semitism, including Holocaust denial, the UN News Service said. "Holocaust denial is anti-Semitism. It wounds the people who suffer the most – the survivors," said Kiyo Akasaka, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, in a message to the International Conference on Anti-Semitism and Holocaust Denial in Dublin. "It extends this hurt to every Jewish person, as a heartless reminder of the unspeakable cruelty and the ruthless attempt to eliminate every member of their families," Mr. Akasaka told the conference, which is co-sponsored by the UN Department of Public Information and Holocaust Education Trust Ireland, with the support of the Government of Ireland and other partners. The UN has called for the rejection of the denial of the Holocaust, in full or in part, through resolutions adopted by the 192-member General Assembly. Mr. Akasaka encouraged participants attending the two-day event to make efforts to dispel the myths associated with anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial and to fight discrimination. "We have not fully understood that discrimination against people anywhere hurts people everywhere. Minorities of all kinds continue to be persecuted and murdered. And too often, we have been indifferent," he said. Through its ‘Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme,’ the UN helps to ensure that people everywhere are better educated about the events that led to the Holocaust in order to help prevent genocide in the future.
The Sofia Echo
The Sofia Echo
Mexican Drug Cartels Tied to U.S. White Supremacists (USA)
"The cartels are looking for partners, bridges, to connect their activities inside the United States, and the supremacists have become an important force on the streets and inside prisons," according to Larry Gaines, gang expert and president of the criminal justice department at San Bernardino State University.
Members of the Aryan Brotherhood, the notoriously violent organization founded in the California penitentiary system in 1967, are serving as hitmen for Mexican cartels and offering added protection and intimidation against rival groups, according to a report by the National Gang Intelligence Center.
"Some members of the Aryan Brotherhood (AB) have business relationships with Mexican cartels that bring illegal drugs into California for the AB to distribute. The Aryan Brotherhood is notoriously violent and is often involved in murder for hire," the report says.
Likewise, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirms that its own research indicates that white supremacist gangs are currently collaborating with Mexican cartels in car theft operations and arms trafficking to Mexico, primarily in Texas, California and Chicago.
Although the first investigation into the collaboration between the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Mafia was conducted by the Los Angeles bureau of the FBI, that office told La Opinión that it does not currently have any intelligence supporting their collaboration. This, despite the fact that the National Gang Intelligence Center (which the FBI is a part of) confirms the ties between the two groups.
In 1984, the FBI’s Los Angeles bureau issued a report stating that Aryan Brotherhood gang members were facing longer prison terms than Latino gang members and had become the major force of organized crime inside prisons.
Several prison guards were allegedly killed by AB gang members as a sign of intimidation.
The report also states that both groups came to a "peace" agreement that they would not kill a member of a rival racial group. If the Aryan Brotherhood had a problem with a Mexican, for example, they would pass the case onto the Mexican Mafia who would order his execution; and the AB would be responsible for punishing its own members.
The FBI agents that conducted the six-month investigation warned that many of the AB gang members would be released from prison in a few years, and the alliance between the two gangs would continue on the streets. The theory, according to new reports, has become a reality.
Soldiers in the Service of Criminals
According to a white supremacist doctrine, the Aryan Brotherhood, whose symbol is "666," has shifted from an organization whose mission was to protect itself from other racial groups to a group that seeks power and control over sectors of the drug market.
But the Aryan Brotherhood is also secondarily financing other extremist political groups like the gangs Peckerwoods, Public Enemy Number One and Nazi Low Riders that it has formed alliances with to distribute drugs. "The drug trafficking money is indirectly serving the purposes of supremacists," said Wes McBride, executive director of the California Gang Investigators Association.
The Aryan Brotherhood formed a coalition with the group Nazi Low Riders (NLR) to serve as street soldiers in drug and arms trafficking. But a series of mass arrests of NLR members changed the structure of their business.
In March 2006, Ty Fowles, a resident of Garden Grove and alleged leader of the NLR, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. Fowles was charged with extortion, conspiracy to
distribute drugs, witness tampering, robbery, murder and attempted murder. The same year, Richard Klein, 35, and his wife Kylie, 25, were convicted of selling methamphetamines on the streets of Orange County to fund the NLR and the families of its incarcerated members.
With members of NLR divided, Donald Reed "Popeye" Mazza, the leader of Public Enemy Number One, joined the Aryan Brotherhood in 2005. Public Enemy Number One, also known as Death Squad, has grown immensely. Although it has a racist ideology, the group is primarily dedicated to making money, particularly in the meth trade.
Authorities suspect that there could be hundreds of these members operating throughout Southern California. Meanwhile, federal reports state that Aryan Brotherhood squads were or are still part of the U.S. Armed Forces and have employed their military tactics in their own operations.
On the streets of Lancaster and Palmdale, east of Los Angeles, anti-drug agents have discovered alliances between gangs of different races working for the cartels, according to Lt. Erik Ruble of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.
"In prison, divisions and racial problems are still strong, but on the street, the structure is different. Now it’s based on a union of power and economics where racial divisions are unnecessary," says Ruble.
In the past, meth and Ecstasy production in California was controlled by white gangs. Now the market is completely dominated by Mexican cartels, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The spokesperson said he is not aware of agreements between white supremacist gangs and Latino gangs, but he confirmed cases of white and Asian gangs working together on large-scale synthetic drug operations.
"The amount of money these gangs handle is massive. We had a case of the wife of a member of [the Mexican Mafia] who had half a million dollars in cash at home, and expensive properties in several cities,” said Mrozek. “The reality is that today if you want cocaine, the Mexican cartels have the big market, same with methamphetamines, and there are enough drugs for the cartels to have to find new customers and systems of distribution."
New America Media
Black man tied to actions of white supremacy group (Bridgeport, USA)
One co-defendant in the trial of two avowed white supremacists will stand out Monday morning in a federal courtroom.
That's because David Sutton is a black man -- caught up in a conspiracy to sell homemade hand grenades to what his co-defendants believed was a member of the powerful Imperial Klans of America.
For the next three weeks, Sutton will be there, with his lawyer, Frank Riccio II, listening to a litany of evidence, recordings and videotapes involving Kenneth Zrallack, the 29-year-old Ansonia man the government claims is the leader of the Connecticut White Wolves -- now known as Battalion 14 of North East White Pride -- and Alexander DeFelice, a 33-year-old Milford man described by investigators as the "dealmaker" in this case.
Prosecutors intend to call 29 witnesses and play 101 excerpts from video and audio recordings that could take about two and a half hours during the trial, which begins Monday.
Even Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Kopel concedes, in court papers, that he has "no evidence to suggest" that Sutton, 46, of Milford, "was associated or supportive of the white supremacist movement ... He was not a member or participant."
Still, Sutton will be there -- with Zrallack and his lawyer Nicholas Adamucci to his right and DeFelice and his lawyer, Michael Hillis, to his left.
Sutton's name is the fifth of five on a federal grand jury indictment where he is charged only in the conspiracy.
Two other defendants, William R. Bolton, 31, a reputed member, and Edwin T. Westmoreland, 27, a participant, both of Stratford, pleaded guilty to charges and are awaiting sentencing.
So how does a black man find himself on trial with members of a white supremacy group, particularly in a case where Kopel claims the Wolves are attempting to bolster their presence in the white supremacy world by becoming arms suppliers to their bigger and badder brother groups?
Riccio, Sutton's lawyer, said his client "strenuously denies being part of such a conspiracy ... He hopes to be vindicated after trial."
One theory, Kopel raises in court papers, is that Sutton became involved in the hopes that his brother-in-law could buy guns from DeFelice.
None of this shocks Rachel Ranis, an emeritus professor of sociology at Quinnipiac University.
"There are always people who act as individuals," said Ranis. "They do things for individual reasons. Maybe he doesn't care about who the target is."
Clearly, Ranis said a group like the White Wolves would like having a black man as an associate.
Riccio raised the race issue during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in which he asked his client be tried separately.
"His appearance in court with the others cuts both ways," Riccio told the judge.
The Bridgeport lawyer conceded that, in one respect, having a black man on trial with white supremacists could lead to the jury to asking themselves what's wrong with this picture.
"How could a black man be involved in any respect in a conspiracy with white supremacists," he asked. "It's so night and day."
On the other hand, Riccio said his client could suffer "the spillover effect" of seeing and hearing two and a half hours of tape-recorded evidence against the others.
"He could suffer prejudice, not only legally but literally," Riccio said.
Ranis and Henry Schissler, who teaches sociology and criminology at Housatonic Community College and Quinnipiac University in Hamden, agree.
"A lot of African-Americans will be horrified by his involvement," Ranis predicted.
"People may shun him," said Schissler. "That's what typically happens when someone goes against the grain."
Court documents filed in the case indicate that, while Sutton may be an associate of DeFelice, he had no contact with Zrallack.
And most of the evidence against Sutton, who has a prior criminal record, stems from a Dec. 28, 2009, meeting at DeFelice's Milford home.
Quickly the conversation shifted to Sutton's race, according to court documents.
As the informant "was plainly flummoxed and stumbling for words," Kopel wrote, "DeFelice and Sutton ... jokingly" denied the black man's race.
"No, Dave ain't black -- Dave's Canadian," DeFelice says on the recording the informant made.
"French Canadian," responds Sutton, who then holds up his arm and says: "No. I don't call this extra crispy."
"You call it caramelized," DeFelice adds.
The trio eventually ended up at Sutton's garage in an unsuccessful search for a tap to drill a hole into the grenade shell so it could be filled with gun powder.
"There's no other evidence," said Riccio, who described his client as a handyman willing to help others.
But Kopel also claims Sutton was the person, chosen by DeFelice, "who would dispose of the completed grenades if the deal with (the IKA) broke down."
The prosecutor, who is trying the case, said he has evidence that Sutton asked DeFelice to supply MAC-11s to Sutton's brother-in-law. The prosecutor also said DeFelice and Sutton told the cooperating witness how DeFelice offered a deal to a New Haven crack dealer: He would take any guns used in a shooting and sell them to the KKK.
Schissler, who also teaches criminology, said the deal is the key to any criminal.
"They want something and that's all they care about. ... The deal supersedes race," he said. "Look at drug dealers -- they will rip off their own people. There's no remorse or empathy."
CTPost
That's because David Sutton is a black man -- caught up in a conspiracy to sell homemade hand grenades to what his co-defendants believed was a member of the powerful Imperial Klans of America.
For the next three weeks, Sutton will be there, with his lawyer, Frank Riccio II, listening to a litany of evidence, recordings and videotapes involving Kenneth Zrallack, the 29-year-old Ansonia man the government claims is the leader of the Connecticut White Wolves -- now known as Battalion 14 of North East White Pride -- and Alexander DeFelice, a 33-year-old Milford man described by investigators as the "dealmaker" in this case.
Prosecutors intend to call 29 witnesses and play 101 excerpts from video and audio recordings that could take about two and a half hours during the trial, which begins Monday.
Even Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Kopel concedes, in court papers, that he has "no evidence to suggest" that Sutton, 46, of Milford, "was associated or supportive of the white supremacist movement ... He was not a member or participant."
Still, Sutton will be there -- with Zrallack and his lawyer Nicholas Adamucci to his right and DeFelice and his lawyer, Michael Hillis, to his left.
Sutton's name is the fifth of five on a federal grand jury indictment where he is charged only in the conspiracy.
Two other defendants, William R. Bolton, 31, a reputed member, and Edwin T. Westmoreland, 27, a participant, both of Stratford, pleaded guilty to charges and are awaiting sentencing.
So how does a black man find himself on trial with members of a white supremacy group, particularly in a case where Kopel claims the Wolves are attempting to bolster their presence in the white supremacy world by becoming arms suppliers to their bigger and badder brother groups?
Riccio, Sutton's lawyer, said his client "strenuously denies being part of such a conspiracy ... He hopes to be vindicated after trial."
One theory, Kopel raises in court papers, is that Sutton became involved in the hopes that his brother-in-law could buy guns from DeFelice.
None of this shocks Rachel Ranis, an emeritus professor of sociology at Quinnipiac University.
"There are always people who act as individuals," said Ranis. "They do things for individual reasons. Maybe he doesn't care about who the target is."
Clearly, Ranis said a group like the White Wolves would like having a black man as an associate.
Riccio raised the race issue during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in which he asked his client be tried separately.
"His appearance in court with the others cuts both ways," Riccio told the judge.
The Bridgeport lawyer conceded that, in one respect, having a black man on trial with white supremacists could lead to the jury to asking themselves what's wrong with this picture.
"How could a black man be involved in any respect in a conspiracy with white supremacists," he asked. "It's so night and day."
On the other hand, Riccio said his client could suffer "the spillover effect" of seeing and hearing two and a half hours of tape-recorded evidence against the others.
"He could suffer prejudice, not only legally but literally," Riccio said.
Ranis and Henry Schissler, who teaches sociology and criminology at Housatonic Community College and Quinnipiac University in Hamden, agree.
"A lot of African-Americans will be horrified by his involvement," Ranis predicted.
"People may shun him," said Schissler. "That's what typically happens when someone goes against the grain."
Court documents filed in the case indicate that, while Sutton may be an associate of DeFelice, he had no contact with Zrallack.
And most of the evidence against Sutton, who has a prior criminal record, stems from a Dec. 28, 2009, meeting at DeFelice's Milford home.
Quickly the conversation shifted to Sutton's race, according to court documents.
As the informant "was plainly flummoxed and stumbling for words," Kopel wrote, "DeFelice and Sutton ... jokingly" denied the black man's race.
"No, Dave ain't black -- Dave's Canadian," DeFelice says on the recording the informant made.
"French Canadian," responds Sutton, who then holds up his arm and says: "No. I don't call this extra crispy."
"You call it caramelized," DeFelice adds.
The trio eventually ended up at Sutton's garage in an unsuccessful search for a tap to drill a hole into the grenade shell so it could be filled with gun powder.
"There's no other evidence," said Riccio, who described his client as a handyman willing to help others.
But Kopel also claims Sutton was the person, chosen by DeFelice, "who would dispose of the completed grenades if the deal with (the IKA) broke down."
The prosecutor, who is trying the case, said he has evidence that Sutton asked DeFelice to supply MAC-11s to Sutton's brother-in-law. The prosecutor also said DeFelice and Sutton told the cooperating witness how DeFelice offered a deal to a New Haven crack dealer: He would take any guns used in a shooting and sell them to the KKK.
Schissler, who also teaches criminology, said the deal is the key to any criminal.
"They want something and that's all they care about. ... The deal supersedes race," he said. "Look at drug dealers -- they will rip off their own people. There's no remorse or empathy."
CTPost
Former Czech prostitute, German neo-Nazi imprisoned for torturing Roma women
A court in the town of Hof, Germany has sentenced a Czech woman and a German neo-Nazi from the Bavarian town of Selb to seven and a half and six years in prison respectively for kidnapping, beating and humiliating Roma women from the Czech towns of Aš and Cheb who were working as prostitutes. DPA reported that the court reached its verdict today.
The 26-year-old Czech woman was found guilty of multiple abductions, extortion, aggravated robbery and causing dangerous injuries. The court sent her to prison for seven and a half years; the sentence could have been as long as nine and a half years for the crimes in question. Her German lover, who was four years older than her and had suffered serious brain damage during an accident, received one year less in prison than she did. The court based its decision on a medical finding that the man was suffering from a personality disorder.
According to the court, the man posed as someone interested in the sexual services of female prostitutes in the town of Aš, Czech Republic and the surrounding areas. Over the course of this past March, he enticed three different prostitutes into remote parts of the forest, where he and his partner overwhelmed them, blindfolded them and transported them across the border to Bavaria. Once in the man's home, the women had to strip naked; the couple cut off their hair and took away all of their belongings and clothes. The Czech woman beat the kidnapped prostitutes with a baseball bat or iron bar and forced them to say they were "black swine". After the torture was over, the couple let their victims go.
The couple, who were living in the town of Selb in Bavaria near the Czech border, targeted Roma women only for attack. The 30-year-old man, according to the state prosecutor, is a right-wing radical who despises Roma, while the Czech woman previously worked as a prostitute herself. The prosecutor said her attacks were prompted by her hatred of prostitution.
Police were led to the trail of the Czech-German pair by their most recent victim, who memorized their license plate number. During a search of the defendants' home, detectives found ammunition and weapons and also charged them with illegal possession. During the trial the couple blamed one another for their actions. The man rejected the charge that he was a right-wing radical, claiming to just be a nationalist. "The swastika is no different than a cross in a church to me," local media quoted him as saying.
Romea.cz
The 26-year-old Czech woman was found guilty of multiple abductions, extortion, aggravated robbery and causing dangerous injuries. The court sent her to prison for seven and a half years; the sentence could have been as long as nine and a half years for the crimes in question. Her German lover, who was four years older than her and had suffered serious brain damage during an accident, received one year less in prison than she did. The court based its decision on a medical finding that the man was suffering from a personality disorder.
According to the court, the man posed as someone interested in the sexual services of female prostitutes in the town of Aš, Czech Republic and the surrounding areas. Over the course of this past March, he enticed three different prostitutes into remote parts of the forest, where he and his partner overwhelmed them, blindfolded them and transported them across the border to Bavaria. Once in the man's home, the women had to strip naked; the couple cut off their hair and took away all of their belongings and clothes. The Czech woman beat the kidnapped prostitutes with a baseball bat or iron bar and forced them to say they were "black swine". After the torture was over, the couple let their victims go.
The couple, who were living in the town of Selb in Bavaria near the Czech border, targeted Roma women only for attack. The 30-year-old man, according to the state prosecutor, is a right-wing radical who despises Roma, while the Czech woman previously worked as a prostitute herself. The prosecutor said her attacks were prompted by her hatred of prostitution.
Police were led to the trail of the Czech-German pair by their most recent victim, who memorized their license plate number. During a search of the defendants' home, detectives found ammunition and weapons and also charged them with illegal possession. During the trial the couple blamed one another for their actions. The man rejected the charge that he was a right-wing radical, claiming to just be a nationalist. "The swastika is no different than a cross in a church to me," local media quoted him as saying.
Romea.cz
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