2002 white supremacist terror plot
Encyclopedia
During a 2002 terror plot, a pair of white supremacists
planned to bomb a series of institutions associated with African American
and American Jewish
communities.
and Erica Chase, a boyfriend and girlfriend team, planned to blow up a museum with a fertilizer bomb
, as was used in the Oklahoma City bombing
. Felton wanted to rid the United States of those he called "mud people"; Asians, blacks, Latinos and Jews. A member of the White Order of Thule
, Felton was also part African American
. Chase was a member of the World Church of the Creator, a white power hate group.
Felton then robbed a bank with a friend from prison and forged money in order to buy materials to create a fertilizer bomb.
Targets included the United States Holocaust Museum, the New England Holocaust Memorial
; well-known Jews, including Steven Spielberg
; and black leaders, including Rev. Jesse Jackson
.. An attendant at a donut shop spotted a counterfeit $20 Chase tried to pass him. He alerted an off-duty Boston police officer, who then arrested Chase and Felton.
A federal appeals court reinstated the gun charge in 2005, requiring Gertner to decide on appending longer sentences within a surplus of five years on Chase and Felton; in 2006, Gertner added a full five years to Felton's sentence (resulting in an increase from 21 years and 10 months to 26 years and 10 months), while only additional three months was appended to Chase's sentence due to Chase renouncing her white supremacist views. Chase had already taken a temporary leave from prison to give birth to her and Felton's daughter, Antoinette Blair Chase.
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
planned to bomb a series of institutions associated with African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and American Jewish
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
communities.
Crime
Leo FeltonLeo Felton
Leo Vincelette Felton is a former American white supremacist who was convicted of bank robbery and plotting to blow up Jewish and black landmarks around Boston...
and Erica Chase, a boyfriend and girlfriend team, planned to blow up a museum with a fertilizer bomb
ANFO
ANFO is a widely used bulk industrial explosive mixture. It consists of 94 percent porous prilled ammonium nitrate , that acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel — six percent Number 2 Fuel Oil...
, as was used in the Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
. Felton wanted to rid the United States of those he called "mud people"; Asians, blacks, Latinos and Jews. A member of the White Order of Thule
White Order of Thule
The White Order of Thule was a loosely organized American society formed in the mid-1990s by federal prisoner Peter Georgacarakos, art school graduate Michael Lujan and New Age occultist, Joseph Kerrick. It described itself as an "esoteric brotherhood working toward the revitalization of the...
, Felton was also part African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. Chase was a member of the World Church of the Creator, a white power hate group.
Felton then robbed a bank with a friend from prison and forged money in order to buy materials to create a fertilizer bomb.
Targets included the United States Holocaust Museum, the New England Holocaust Memorial
New England Holocaust Memorial
The New England Holocaust Memorial is a memorial in Boston, Massachusetts. It is dedicated to the Jews who were killed in the Holocaust.-Information:...
; well-known Jews, including Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
; and black leaders, including Rev. Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
.. An attendant at a donut shop spotted a counterfeit $20 Chase tried to pass him. He alerted an off-duty Boston police officer, who then arrested Chase and Felton.
Trial and sentencing
The trial resulted in a conviction for both Felton and Chase on charges of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and plotting to blow up landmarks associated with Jews and African-Americans.. Felton was sentenced to 21 years in prison, while Chase was sentenced to 57 months, although Judge Nancy Gertner had set aside the jury's conviction on a gun possession charge.A federal appeals court reinstated the gun charge in 2005, requiring Gertner to decide on appending longer sentences within a surplus of five years on Chase and Felton; in 2006, Gertner added a full five years to Felton's sentence (resulting in an increase from 21 years and 10 months to 26 years and 10 months), while only additional three months was appended to Chase's sentence due to Chase renouncing her white supremacist views. Chase had already taken a temporary leave from prison to give birth to her and Felton's daughter, Antoinette Blair Chase.
See also
- Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shootingUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum shootingThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting was a shooting at that nation's memorial to The Holocaust in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 2009, at 12:50 p.m. Security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, was shot, and later died from his injuries. Suspect James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, was charged...
- Terrorism in the United StatesTerrorism in the United StatesA common definition of terrorism is the systematic use or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change...