Midway through the investigation into a series of attacks on Hemet police last year, detectives were focused on violent white supremacist gangs as suspects, according to newly released search warrants.
Police were serving search warrants to investigate several members of a prison-based neo-Nazi gang, including the alleged "shot caller" of the Hemet chapter, according to the documents police filed to obtain those warrants.
The documents were released this week after attorneys for The Press-Enterprise filed a request last year that multiple search warrants be unsealed.
Though several of those mentioned in the March and April search warrants were arrested as part of an April raid, police did not find evidence to link members of the gangs to any of the attacks.
By June, suspicion turned to two other men, Nicholas Smit and Steven Hansen. Based on a tip to police and DNA evidence, they were arrested in July on suspicion of targeting Hemet Detective Chuck Johnson with attacks that started in December 2009. Authorities have said the motive was to stop Johnson from testifying against Smit in a marijuana case.
Smit has been charged in five attacks and Hansen is charged with assisting him in one attack -- aiming a rocket at the Hemet Police Department in June.
Police have not said whether either man had ties to any white supremacist gangs. The district attorney's office has not filed gang charges against them.
The initial suspect in the case was Joseph Matthew Zito, who police thought was "bent on revenge" against officers who had arrested him, detectives said in the unsealed documents.
Zito was sentenced last month to eight years in prison for a weapons charge related to the April raid but unrelated to the attacks.
In late 2009, Zito was released from prison after Johnson had arrested him for possession of tear gas. He went to the Hemet Police Department and told detectives that authorities in a previous weapons case against him "bore false witness" and that "he had a moral and religious right to 'bring sinners to justice,' " the warrants say.
Zito was described in the warrants as the leader or "shot caller" for the Hemet region of a white supremacist gang called Public Enemy No. 1. Formed in Orange County, it is a sect of the Aryan Brotherhood, police said.
Part of the reason Hemet police suspected white supremacist involvement was that an investigator found instructions on how to make some of the devices used in the attacks in an online white supremacist manual.
One such device was a homemade gun rigged to the gate around the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task Force building February 2010, which fired when an officer opened the gate, narrowly missing him.
The next day, as task force members moved out of the building, police found Zito staking out the building, according to the warrants.
Detectives began a surveillance operation in March on Zito and his gang associates. The warrants state Zito was never found at the scene of any of the attacks but was thought to have been orchestrating them.
Video surveillance was conducted on Johnson's home, where a similar homemade gun was attached to his car on March 4.
While the gun found on Johnson's car was being defused by the bomb squad, an associate of Zito's was seen staking out the officers.
When the Hemet police firing range was burned down April 12, police believed it was retribution for the arrest of another gang member hours earlier.
Detectives eventually ruled out Zito's involvement due to a lack of evidence.
PE.com
Friday, 18 February 2011
Neo-Nazis and leftists clash at assault trial (Germany)
Right-wing extremists and leftists clashed in a Nuremberg courtroom on Thursday, spurring the judge to clear the hall in order to continue a trial against a neo-Nazi charged with beating a teenage boy so severely that he remains permanently disabled.
As the trial began a group of leftists reportedly chanted “Antifa, Antifa, get out Nazis!” in attempt to keep the defendant’s supporters from entering the courtroom. Antifa in German refers to “anti-fascist” supporters.
The courtroom, number 600, was used to try Nazi war criminals after the Second World War, and the leftist demonstrators said they did not want it occupied by modern right-wing extremists.
Court officials' demands to keep apart were ignored and met with verbal sparring between the two sides, and the courtroom was cleared amid loud protests.
A 24-year-old man with admitted ties to the neo-Nazi scene in Fürth faces charges of attempted manslaughter and dangerous bodily harm after beating a 17-year-old student apprentice nearly to death in April 2010 in a Nuremberg U-Bahn metro.
The man became enraged when the teenager allegedly made a disparaging remark about a bum bag worn by his girlfriend from Thor Steinar, a well-known neo-Nazi clothing label.
The 24-year-old from Fürth denied he intended to maim or kill the teen before the court on Thursday, but did acknowledge beating the boy after he remarked “aggressively” on the bum bag. The defendant also said he regretted the incident, in particular the disabilities sustained by his victim.
The now 18-year-old was injured so severely that his heart stopped and he had to be repeatedly resuscitated by rescue workers. After a lengthy hospital stay he remains severely disabled and unable to work in his chosen field of carpentry.
Because he can’t remember the assault, the teen appeared in court as a joint plaintiff.
Though he has no memory of it, he told the court that he could certainly imagine making such a remark about the Thor Steinar bag.
“Because I think it’s wrong to wear this label that is used mainly by neo-Nazis,” he said, adding that he is an active supporter of the city's leftist scene.
Another four days have been reserved for the trial, with a verdict expected on March 3.
The Local Germany
As the trial began a group of leftists reportedly chanted “Antifa, Antifa, get out Nazis!” in attempt to keep the defendant’s supporters from entering the courtroom. Antifa in German refers to “anti-fascist” supporters.
The courtroom, number 600, was used to try Nazi war criminals after the Second World War, and the leftist demonstrators said they did not want it occupied by modern right-wing extremists.
Court officials' demands to keep apart were ignored and met with verbal sparring between the two sides, and the courtroom was cleared amid loud protests.
A 24-year-old man with admitted ties to the neo-Nazi scene in Fürth faces charges of attempted manslaughter and dangerous bodily harm after beating a 17-year-old student apprentice nearly to death in April 2010 in a Nuremberg U-Bahn metro.
The man became enraged when the teenager allegedly made a disparaging remark about a bum bag worn by his girlfriend from Thor Steinar, a well-known neo-Nazi clothing label.
The 24-year-old from Fürth denied he intended to maim or kill the teen before the court on Thursday, but did acknowledge beating the boy after he remarked “aggressively” on the bum bag. The defendant also said he regretted the incident, in particular the disabilities sustained by his victim.
The now 18-year-old was injured so severely that his heart stopped and he had to be repeatedly resuscitated by rescue workers. After a lengthy hospital stay he remains severely disabled and unable to work in his chosen field of carpentry.
Because he can’t remember the assault, the teen appeared in court as a joint plaintiff.
Though he has no memory of it, he told the court that he could certainly imagine making such a remark about the Thor Steinar bag.
“Because I think it’s wrong to wear this label that is used mainly by neo-Nazis,” he said, adding that he is an active supporter of the city's leftist scene.
Another four days have been reserved for the trial, with a verdict expected on March 3.
The Local Germany
Religious leaders join forces against violence (Denmark)
Recent reports of violence and harassment against religious groups has inspired groups of Christians, Muslims and Jews to unite in the fight against intolerance, reports Berlingske newspaper.
An increase in religiously motivated violence has led the three main religious communities in Denmark to join forces to encourage mutual respect and tolerance.
“Judaism, Islam and Christianity all have common roots,” said Rev Peter Skov-Jacobsen, the bishop of Copenhagen. “And when the root is the same, it must be possible for them to live and prosper side by side.”
The bishop’s views are supported by Det Mosaiske Troessamfund (MT), an officially recognized Jewish society, and the Muslim Joint Council (MF).
“Islam does not warrant harassment,” said MF spokesperson Zubair Butt-Hussain. “Such harassment is horrible whether you are religious or not. Engaging in it would amount to abuse of the Koran.”
On March 21, the City Council will schedule a campaign against religious harassment in connection with the UN’s anti-racism day.
CH-Post
An increase in religiously motivated violence has led the three main religious communities in Denmark to join forces to encourage mutual respect and tolerance.
“Judaism, Islam and Christianity all have common roots,” said Rev Peter Skov-Jacobsen, the bishop of Copenhagen. “And when the root is the same, it must be possible for them to live and prosper side by side.”
The bishop’s views are supported by Det Mosaiske Troessamfund (MT), an officially recognized Jewish society, and the Muslim Joint Council (MF).
“Islam does not warrant harassment,” said MF spokesperson Zubair Butt-Hussain. “Such harassment is horrible whether you are religious or not. Engaging in it would amount to abuse of the Koran.”
On March 21, the City Council will schedule a campaign against religious harassment in connection with the UN’s anti-racism day.
CH-Post
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