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Marcus Faella, 39, and his wife Patricia, 36, are both leaders of the St Cloud, Florida, chapter of American Front, which is a violent skinhead organization.
(Osceola County Corrections)
A group of white supremacists rounded up in central Florida over the weekend were stockpiling weapons and training for a 'coming race war,' where they planned to kill minorities, immigrants and Jews, according to authorities.
Court documents reveal the ten members of American Front were preparing to become active again and recapture media attention, possibly with an assault on Orlando City Hall, in an effort to attract new recruits.
They were also allegedly planning to manufacture the deadly toxin ricin, which the government considers a weapon of mass destruction.
According to court documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, the St Cloud chapter of American Front, deemed a 'racist skinhead group' by the Anti-Defamation League, made a base at the secluded home of leaders Marcus and Patricia Faella.
On the Faella's 'Aryan Compound' in rural Osceola County, five miles from the nearest paved road, the white supremacists trained with AK-47s and other weapons during 'mandatory' practice sessions. Marcus Faella allegedly told his followers to picture the heads of black people as they fired at targets.
Last summer, a member of the US National Guard, who was in a Missouri chapter of American Front, visited the group in Florida for hand-to-hand combat training and instruction on fighting with knives, the Sentinel reported.
Faella believed there was an inevitable race war coming and he saw American Front as being the protectors of the 'white race.'
He fortified his compound with railroad timbers, cement pilings and barbed wire. He cut gun-ports in the sides of his trailer that he and others could stick their rifles through. He and the other members stockpiled weapons and ammunition and military MREs -- 'meals ready-to-eat.'
Some of his followers carried sharpened screwdrivers as weapons -- deadly in a fight, but wouldn't get them arrested if they were stopped by the police, according to authorities.
Faella believed he and his white-power followers had been too quiet for too long and they were planning to recapture headlines and leap back into public attention.
One of the ways he planned to do this, and attract new recruits in the process, was to start a 'disturbance' at Orlando City Hall. It's unclear what kind of action the group was planning.
When pro-labor union groups came out for the May Day protests May 1, the group planned a counter-protest and made signs that were designed to double as weapons. It is unknown whether American Front actually attended the counter-protest.
In all, ten members of the group have been arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy and committing hate crimes.
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TXT 24
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