The Order (white supremacist group)
The Order, also known as the Brüder Schweigen, Silent Brotherhood or less commonly as the "Aryan Resistance Movement" was a white supremacist terrorist organization active in the United States between September 1983 and December 1984. The group raised funds via armed robbery. Ten members were tried and convicted for racketeering, and two for their role in the 1984 murder of radio talk show host Alan Berg.
History
The Order was founded by Robert Jay Mathews in late September 1983 at his farm near Metaline, Washington. Mathews's farm is where the members reportedly trained. Mathews was baptized into the Mormon faith in 1969. He formed the "Sons of Liberty", an anti-communist militia mostly made up of Mormon survivalists, fundamentalists and associates of John Singer that had no connection to the historical organization of the same name.A fundamental goal of The Order was revolution against the American government, which its members, and those of other white supremacist groups, believed to be controlled by a cabal of prominent Jews. The Order was named after, and partly modeled on, a fictional terrorist group in William Luther Pierce's novel The Turner Diaries. The Order's goals included the establishment of a homeland from which Jews and non-whites would be barred. They often referred to the United States federal government as ZOG, an acronym for Zionist Occupied Government. Members of the Order included Randy Evans, Gary Yarborough, Bruce Pierce, Denver Parmenter, Frank DeSilva, Richard Scutari, David Lane, Randy Duey, and David Tate.
The Order drew up a hit list of enemies, and on June 18, 1984 radio talk show host Alan Berg was murdered in front of his home by Bruce Pierce, assisted by other members of The Order. Berg was number two on The Order's list.
In December 1984, authorities were able to track Mathews down to a house on Whidbey Island where he refused to surrender. During a shootout, the house was ignited by incendiary flares and became engulfed in flames, and Mathews was killed. Mathews is considered a martyr by some white nationalists.
Funding
Next, the group discussed how to fund actions of The Order, considering bidding on lumber-jacking and timber contracts, counterfeiting money, diaspora funding from overseas oil countries, and robberies. Though timber contracts were legal, counterfeiting money appealed to the ideals of the group in that it undermined the government by devaluing US currency. Robbery was first denied as an option due to its perceived sinful nature, until someone suggested they could rob pimps and dope dealers, which would raise money for the organization as well as set back street criminals in their businesses.The organization won a bid on a timber trimming contract for a trail in the Salmo-Priest Wilderness. After five hours of grueling work, Matthews decided to call off the work and head home. Headed back to the trucks, David Lane muttered, "Well, we're going to have to be better thinkers than our fathers were, because we're sure not the men they were," while Matthews mentions that the pay off from the job "would not fund the right wing for a week anyway." The Order decided to try their hand at robberies, attempting to target pimps and dope dealers. After weeks of trailing black men in flashy cars and realizing they had no idea what a pimp or dope dealer truly looked like, they decided to switch to other crimes for funding.
The Order raised money through robbery. This began with the robbery of a porn video store, which netted them $369.10. Their later robberies were more effective, including a bank robbery, followed by a series of three armored car robberies. In the armored car robberies, they took a total of $4.1 million, including their final armored car robbery near Ukiah, California that netted them $3.8 million. The Order detonated a timed firebomb in a movie theater in Seattle, in order to occupy the police during their second planned armored car robbery that took place the next day. Proceeds from these robberies were distributed to leaders of sympathetic organizations such as William Pierce and Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr..
The Order also ran a counterfeiting operation, but their bills were of poor quality, especially early on, and they led to Bruce Pierce being jailed early on, and later they precipitated the group's downfall.
Downfall
The Order was ultimately brought down when a member of the order, Tom Martinez, approached the FBI and offered to turn informant. His role in the organisation had been to pass counterfeit money and he had been arrested on June 29 1984 for passing counterfeit ten dollar bills to buy liquor. After he was released on his own recognizance Mathews convinced him to go underground and during this period Martinez learned that Mathews intended to kill the liquor store owner to stop him from testifying. When he learned of Mathews' plan, Martinez approached the FBI and offered to turn informant.Convictions
Ten members of The Order were tried and convicted under Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act statutes with the help of the testimony of Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., who testified against Order members in order to have his own sentence reduced. In a separate trial, three other members of The Order were tried and convicted of violating the civil rights of Alan Berg. No one has been charged in the murder of Berg. David Lane, the getaway driver for Berg's assailants, was sentenced to 190 consecutive years on the charges of racketeering, conspiracy, and violating Berg's civil rights. He died in prison in 2007. Order member Bruce Pierce was sentenced to 252 years in prison for his involvement in the Berg murder, and died of natural causes at the Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex on August 16, 2010 at the age of 56. Like Mathews, Lane and Pierce are regarded by many white-supremacists as heroes, political prisoners, and martyrs. In another trial, 14 men were charged with sedition, conspiracy, and civil rights violations. Thirteen of them were acquitted, and the judge dismissed the charges against the fourteenth man for lack of evidence.A 2011 NPR report claimed that some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit. Richard Scutari, a member of the Order, was sentenced to a 60-year prison term in 1986, and was transferred to USP Marion CMU in July 2008.