1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: Col Zone Media. Just after midnight on March fifteenth, nineteen 2 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: sixty five, Frank Smith was dropping off his girlfriend after 3 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: a night out in Boston. The pair were sitting in 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: his car outside of her apartment when two men emerged 5 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,919 Speaker 1: from the shadows. They walked up to the driver's side window, and, 6 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: without saying a word, fired eight times into the car. 7 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: Marilyn Marx was miraculously unhurt, and she ran for help. 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 1: Frank was not so lucky. He'd been hit five times 9 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: in the neck, chest, and shoulder. His glasses were shattered 10 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: in the attack, sending shards of glass into his one 11 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: good eye. When the Monday morning edition of The Boston 12 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: Globe came off the presses a few hours later, it 13 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: was reported that he'd been rushed into emergency surgery overnight 14 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: to save his life, and he was now headed back 15 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: into the operating room where surgeons would attempt to save 16 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: his eyesight. When he woke up in the hospital that afternoon, 17 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: the chief of the Somerville Police Department was waiting outside 18 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: his room with a warrant for his arrest. They'd found 19 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: a loaded revolver with one bullet missing in the back 20 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: seat of his car. Something he wasn't supposed to have. 21 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: Just five months after his release from prison for blowing 22 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: up a man's house, he told police he had no 23 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: idea who would want to shoot him, saying only I've 24 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: been a good boy since I got out, and then 25 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: he hummed a tune as he ignored their follow up questions. 26 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: His girl friend, the same woman who'd provided his alibi 27 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: on the night of that bombing in nineteen fifty seven, 28 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: refused to even look at photos of possible suspects in 29 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: this shooting, telling police she hadn't seen a thing. The 30 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: discovery of Nazi books in PAMs in his car raised 31 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: the possibility that the shooting had something to do with 32 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: Frank's membership in the American Nazi Party, and they even 33 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: sent a detective down to Virginia to question George Lincoln 34 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: Rockwell about their relationship. The more likely explanation, though, was 35 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: that the shooting had been part of the ongoing gang 36 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: wars in Boston, and one detective speculated to the press 37 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: that perhaps it was retaliation from the intended target of 38 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: Frank's bosched bombing in nineteen fifty seven. The FBI doesn't 39 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 1: seem to have volunteered that they already had a pretty 40 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 1: good idea why Frank Smith got shot. He just wasn't 41 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: important enough to anyone for them to be willing to 42 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: jeopardize their ongoing illegal wire tap on the head of 43 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:58,239 Speaker 1: the patriarchal crime family. I'm Molly Conger and this was 44 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: more little guys. When we left off last week, Frank 45 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: Smith was on his way to prison. He was, by 46 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: his own account, a boxing promoter. That's what he always 47 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: told the police when he was getting booked into some 48 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,919 Speaker 1: jail or another anyway, and he's spent much of the 49 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties doing just that. He was arrested for bank 50 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: robbery at least twice, he was accused of murder for 51 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: hire and the daylight shooting of an attorney in New 52 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: York City, and by the time he was convicted for 53 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: bombing a home in the Boston suburbs in nineteen fifty seven, 54 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 1: police strongly suspected that he'd been behind a string of 55 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: similar bombings. The common thread connecting all of the crimes 56 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: Frank Smith was believed to have been involved in was 57 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: organized crime. He managed to wiggle his way out of 58 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: a surprising number of criminal charges, but at the end 59 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty seven, he was sentenced to fifteen years 60 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: in prison, and he'd serve seven of those before he 61 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: was paroled in November of nineteen sixty four. After his release, 62 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: Frank went to live with his sister in Tewkesbury, Massachusetts. 63 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: He spent the holidays with family, but then it was 64 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: time to get back to business. He wanted to meet 65 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: the man whose Nazi newsletters he'd been reading in prison. 66 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: In the first few days of the new year in 67 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, he drove down to Arlington, Virginia to 68 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: meet George Lincoln Rockwell. He'd had a lot of time 69 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: to think over the past couple of years, and he 70 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: had a proposition for the commander of the American Nazi Party. 71 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: He arrived in Arlington on January third, and he was 72 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: invited to accompany Rockwell and his storm Troopers to Washington, 73 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: d c. The following morning, where he would witness one 74 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: of Rockwell's more outrageous publicity stunts. Most of the Stormtroopers 75 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 1: who usually hung around the Nazi Party barracks had gone 76 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: home to see their families for the holidays, so there 77 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: wasn't much of an entourage for this trip. It looks 78 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: like it was just Rockwell, John Patler, Robert Lloyd, and 79 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: Frank Rockwell was no stranger to pulling some ugly little 80 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: stunt for attention. He'd done it in Washington, d C. 81 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: So many times that most of the police officers at 82 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 1: the Capitol knew him by sight, with or without a 83 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: Nazi entourage. But this one in January of nineteen sixty 84 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: five is particularly egregious. January fourth, nineteen sixty five, was 85 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: the first day of the congressional session, the day new 86 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 1: members of Congress are sworn in. The Mississippi Democratic Freedom 87 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: Party had announced ahead of time that they intended to 88 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: challenge the seating of the all white delegation from Mississippi 89 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: because the state had unconstitutionally disenfranchised black voters. Just to 90 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: sort of position us in history here. The Voting Rights 91 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: Act wasn't signed until later in nineteen sixty five, so 92 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty four, the year these white congressmen were 93 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: elected in Mississippi, the state still levied a poll tax 94 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: and used literacy tests to selectively deny people the right 95 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: to vote. As I was writing this, I thought to 96 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 1: actually try to find a copy of a literacy test 97 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: One that was actually in use in Mississippi in the 98 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. I mean, I understand the concept. I learned 99 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: about it in school, and it doesn't really matter in 100 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: the end what the questions were, because it's unfair and 101 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: unconstitutional for it to exist at all. And even if 102 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: you've got all the questions right, the klansmen at the 103 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: registrar's office could just say you didn't. But I found one, 104 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: and honestly, I was kind of surprised. I think most 105 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: people would struggle with this. The test I found required 106 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: the voter to copy down a section of the state constitution, 107 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: followed by the instruction to quote, write in the space 108 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 1: below a reasonable interpretation of the section of the Mississippi 109 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: State Constitution which you have just copied. The next question 110 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: asks the voter to write in the space below a 111 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: statement setting forth your understanding of the duties and obligations 112 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: of citizenship under a constitutional form of government. And there's 113 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: not really very much room to write anything at all. 114 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: And then, of course to even get to the polls 115 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: on election day to then be subjected to an illegal 116 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: tax and an unconstitutional written exam. You had to register 117 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: to vote in the summer of nineteen sixty four. In 118 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: the lead up to this contested election, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, 119 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: and Michael Schwerner were brutally murdered by a gang of 120 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: klansmen that included the local sheriff and his deputies. The 121 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: cops and the clan beat shot and mutilated those men 122 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 1: to stop them from registering black voters in Mississippi. So 123 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: the surface level narrative of what happened on January fourth, 124 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five is a group of black women showed 125 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: up at the capitol to say that these white men 126 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: weren't elected legitimately, and I don't think that does it justice. 127 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: There was no free and fair election in Mississippi in 128 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four. In August of nineteen sixty four, not 129 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: two months after those murders, members of the Mississippi Democratic 130 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:19,239 Speaker 1: Freedom Party held their own state convention to elect delegates 131 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: to send to the Democratic National Convention, And when they 132 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:27,439 Speaker 1: got to the DNC, the Democratic Party challenged their credentials. 133 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: They didn't refuse outright to seat the delegation, but a 134 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: hearing was held before the credentials committee, and at this 135 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: televised hearing, Fanny lou Hamer testified about her own struggle 136 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: to register to vote in Mississippi and the violence she'd 137 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: faced trying to register other black voters. She'd been forced 138 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: to take literacy tests, she was retaliated against by the 139 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: plantation owner whose land she worked as a sharecropper. She 140 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: was threatened, asked, and shot at, and during this hearing, 141 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: her voice is strong and clear as she testified about 142 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: the four days she spent in a Mississippi jail where 143 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 1: she was beaten almost to death. She did not falter 144 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: as she described listening helplessly to the screams of a 145 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: fifteen year old girl who'd been stripped naked and was 146 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 1: being beaten in an adjacent cell. She sat in front 147 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,559 Speaker 1: of that committee, in front of this nation, and described 148 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: the way those white police officers had groped her during 149 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:43,839 Speaker 1: those beatings, and her voice was still strong even as 150 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: the tears ran down her face when she concluded her 151 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: remarks with this question, I. 152 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:57,680 Speaker 2: Question, Americans, it's this American, the line of the free 153 00:10:57,720 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 2: in the home of the brain. 154 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 3: Wow. 155 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 2: We have to sleep with our telephones out for the hook, 156 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:10,960 Speaker 2: because our lives we threatened daily, because we want to live. 157 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 2: It did some human beings in America thank you. 158 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 1: President Johnson called an emergency press conference while she was speaking, 159 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: not to announce that he was doing something about this 160 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:37,200 Speaker 1: absolute outrage in Mississippi, but because he feared the impact 161 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: her words would have on the nation, and a presidential 162 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: press conference would preempt anything else that was on TV. 163 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: Most accounts of President Johnson's thought process here is that 164 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,720 Speaker 1: he was between a rock and a hard place. He 165 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: had only just signed the Civil Rights Act. He knew 166 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:04,560 Speaker 1: damn well that Mississippi was flouting that law, but he 167 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 1: couldn't afford to risk Southern states walking out of the 168 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: convention and losing Southern support in the upcoming presidential election. 169 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: So he proposed an ugly, half assed, insulting compromise two 170 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: of the group's sixty four delegates could be seated. They 171 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: responded by saying, all sixty four of them spent way 172 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,440 Speaker 1: too long on that bus from Mississippi for only two 173 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: of them to get seats. If they couldn't run as 174 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: Democrats in Mississippi, they would run as independents. But Mississippi 175 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: Democratic Freedom Party candidates Fannie lou Hamer, Victoria Gray, and 176 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: Annie Divine were all denied ballot access In the nineteen 177 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:54,319 Speaker 1: sixty four election. So when Congress convened in January of 178 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,199 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, they planned to be present in person 179 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,840 Speaker 1: to make their case to Congress that they were the 180 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:08,319 Speaker 1: rightful representatives of the people of Mississippi, and George Lincoln 181 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: Rockwell planned to be there too. Those three black women 182 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:19,120 Speaker 1: from Mississippi were not even allowed to enter the Capitol Building, 183 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: let alone the House chambers. They were stopped at the 184 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: door by the chief of the Capitol Police. They left 185 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: quietly and stood outside with their hundreds of supporters who 186 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 1: were lining the sidewalks. But for some reason, this crack 187 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: security team at the Capitol Building couldn't explain how somebody 188 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:47,839 Speaker 1: else did manage to get inside. During the roll call 189 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: vote for the election of the Speaker of the House, 190 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:56,559 Speaker 1: a man in blackface, a rumpled top hat, a furry loincloth, 191 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: and no pants came crashing onto the House floor, pushing 192 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: Congressman out of his way as he sprinted to the 193 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: center of the room. And he was shouting something that 194 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,439 Speaker 1: I don't care to repeat in the way that he 195 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:16,439 Speaker 1: said it. What he was saying was I'm the Mississippi 196 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: delegation and I want to be seated, But he was 197 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 1: using an extremely exaggerated affect that was meant to mock 198 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:29,880 Speaker 1: black Southern vernacular. As the police dragged him from the 199 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: Congressional chambers, he yelled, long Live Rockwell. It should have 200 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: been impossible for Robert Lloyd to gain entry into the 201 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: Capitol Building on January fourth, nineteen sixty five, the President 202 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: was about to arrive to address Congress. Security at that 203 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 1: building was as tight as the United States Government can 204 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: get it, but somehow a Nazi in blackface with no 205 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: pay hands on managed to make it past multiple lock 206 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: doors and entrances guarded by police officers. He was charged 207 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 1: only with disorderly conduct, and he was released that same 208 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: day on a twenty dollars bond. This was Frank Smith's 209 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: introduction to the American Nazi Party, and he loved it. 210 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 3: I got a kick out of this. Now this is 211 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 3: becoming very interesting, his first meeting with the commander. I 212 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 3: had met Aim the night before and talked briefly with him, 213 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 3: But now this little escape very interesting, and I had 214 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 3: the chuck away. 215 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 1: The stunt had been fun and exciting, and Rockwell's cool 216 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: demeanor throughout had really impressed him. But this wasn't why 217 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: he drove all the way down to Virginia from Massachusetts. 218 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: He was really only on this racist field trip to 219 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: the capitol. By coincidence, he'd come down to Virginia to 220 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: talk business. 221 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 3: Well, we did have the night before this demonstration. We 222 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 3: had a lengthy discussion. We talked with various topics. One 223 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 3: of them was the need for a church. The Muslims 224 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 3: were creating a successful movement on the black strictly the 225 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 3: black separate from the white, and they had their church, 226 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 3: and there was a need because of the integration of 227 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 3: schools and something. There seemed to be a need for 228 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 3: the whites for a church that could be farmed where 229 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 3: the whites could Because of religious. 230 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: Conviction back in the nineteen fifties, around the time he 231 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: managed to escape conviction for those two separate bank robberies, 232 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: Frank Smith bought some land. He bought a lot of land. Actually, 233 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: he bought close to six hundred acres of mostly undeveloped 234 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,880 Speaker 1: land in a small town in coastal Maine. Now six 235 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:21,920 Speaker 1: hundred acres sounds big, and it is, but I don't 236 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 1: actually know how big because I don't totally know what 237 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,639 Speaker 1: an acre is. So if you're in the same boat, 238 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 1: you're not alone. A football field minus the end zones 239 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: is just a little bit more than one acre, and 240 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:43,879 Speaker 1: one square mile is six hundred and forty acres, So 241 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: he's got five hundred and fifty football fields, or about 242 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,679 Speaker 1: ninety four percent of a square mile, If that helps. 243 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: I tried to find some examples that will be easier 244 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,359 Speaker 1: for me to visualize, but one of the top Google 245 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,159 Speaker 1: results for this is an article that had to have 246 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: been written by AI. It helpfully offers examples like ten 247 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: acres is fifteen eight hundred and forty potatoes, potatoes in 248 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 1: what direction? I think this is a garbled regurgitation of 249 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: an old meme claiming that one five hundred eighty four 250 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,200 Speaker 1: potatoes lined up end to end would span the width 251 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 1: of one acre. But this claim requires you to believe 252 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,840 Speaker 1: that the average potato is five inches long, and according 253 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:38,399 Speaker 1: to doctor Potato, the cartoon scientist mascot on the Q 254 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,959 Speaker 1: and a section of the Idaho Potato Commission's website, there 255 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: is no standard measurement for any potato. Anyway, if you're 256 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: an American trying to imagine what six hundred acres looks like, 257 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: just visualize a parking lot with room for ninety thousand cars. 258 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:00,639 Speaker 1: This one's not actually AI. I found a paper written 259 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: by the director of the Center for Profitable Agriculture at 260 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:08,640 Speaker 1: the University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture, So this one's real. 261 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:14,480 Speaker 1: There's math either way. That's a lot of land for 262 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,199 Speaker 1: a guy who's never had a legitimate form of income. 263 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,360 Speaker 1: I guess robbing banks leaves you with a lot of 264 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: cash and you have to offload it somewhere, and buying 265 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: land isn't the worst idea. So he's been sitting on 266 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:34,600 Speaker 1: six hundred acres of undeveloped land up in Maine for 267 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: a decade already, and in January of nineteen sixty five, 268 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,879 Speaker 1: Frank Smith proposed to George Lincoln Rockwell that they could 269 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,120 Speaker 1: use this property that he had up in Maine as 270 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: the home base for a church, a new religion that 271 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:55,920 Speaker 1: he envisioned as a sort of whites only Nazi version 272 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: I guess of the Nation of Islam. I think that's 273 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: what he's describing. It would provide them with some kind 274 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: of institutional legitimacy to do things like fight school integration. 275 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:14,920 Speaker 1: And it's easy to imagine that this is probably very cynical, 276 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: but I'm always saying, you can't know what's in a 277 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,399 Speaker 1: man's heart. Maybe he does have some kind of hideous, 278 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: warped religious conviction. He doesn't. He helpfully explained the whole 279 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: idea in an interview he did with a reporter in 280 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight. He wasn't bothering with any kind of complicated, 281 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: reverse engineered religious justification for racism. He just wanted to 282 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: take advantage of the legal and social benefits of being 283 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:52,880 Speaker 1: a church by making racism itself his religion. 284 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,480 Speaker 3: And I want to say religion. We're not talking about 285 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:01,440 Speaker 3: DoD mare any particular creed, but it depends on your 286 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 3: interpretation of the word religion. But a trech that one 287 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 3: of the beliefs of the tresch would be that you 288 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 3: would have to be of the right race. And then 289 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 3: other than that, we were keeping it open. 290 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,880 Speaker 1: I couldn't find any primary source documentation that sheds light 291 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: on how Rockwell responded to Frank's proposal specifically, but there 292 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:34,199 Speaker 1: is a lot of evidence that this is something Rockwell 293 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: had been thinking about for years. Rockwell was not religious 294 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 1: at all, but he'd been toying with the idea of 295 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 1: using Christianity as a sort of front for the movement 296 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: since the late fifties. In the early sixties, he met 297 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 1: Richard Butler, the man whose passion for this warped Nazi 298 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,959 Speaker 1: religion of Christian identity led him to found the Aryan Nations, 299 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:05,959 Speaker 1: although that came later. And around that same time, in 300 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: the early nineteen sixties, Rockwell was corresponding with a friend 301 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: of his, a German Nazi named Bruno Ludke. Didke had 302 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: recently translated Rockwell's memoir into German, and he suggested that 303 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,800 Speaker 1: Rockwell should rewrite some of the passages to tone down 304 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:28,479 Speaker 1: the anti Christian rhetoric a little bit. Not because he 305 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: was offended by that, absolutely not. Both men shared the 306 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: belief that Christianity was Jewish and communist. Jesus was, after 307 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: all a Jewish man, and if your worldview centers around 308 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:51,679 Speaker 1: destroying your enemies and exterminating the weak, it's hard to 309 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 1: get much out of the Gospels. In their private correspondence, 310 00:22:56,800 --> 00:23:02,159 Speaker 1: they agreed that Christianity was merely a useful rapper. There 311 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: would be no Christ in this Christian Church, just a 312 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: man trying to, as Lutka put it, speak with the 313 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: political authority of the feurior and the moral authority of 314 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:22,359 Speaker 1: the Pope. In their letters, Rockwell was very open about 315 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: his intentions. His commitment to Hitler was his only religion. 316 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:34,199 Speaker 1: But Americans, with their quote peanut brains, would be lured 317 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: in by this set dressing of Christianity. In correspondence with 318 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 1: British Nazi Colin Jordan, he argued that there is a 319 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:48,439 Speaker 1: clear tactical advantage deciding with Christians on political matters like 320 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:53,119 Speaker 1: prayer in school. You don't have to mean it for 321 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: it to be an effective recruitment and propaganda tool. By 322 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, Rockwell had a close working relationship with 323 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:08,560 Speaker 1: Wesley Swift, the father of the Christian Identity movement. He 324 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: wouldn't live to see it come to fruition, but the 325 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: groundwork he laid in the years before his death paved 326 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: the way for this complete fusion of Christian identity theology 327 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:40,879 Speaker 1: and militant neo Nazi activism. So forming a Nazi church 328 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: is something he'd already been thinking about for a decade 329 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: when Frank Smith approached him in nineteen sixty five. And 330 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 1: I have to believe Frank knew that right. I don't 331 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 1: know how he would have known it, but it's a 332 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,400 Speaker 1: strange thing to say to someone if you didn't know 333 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: they were already consisted it. I couldn't track down anything 334 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: concrete that would point to who would have made that introduction. 335 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: Though after his meeting with Rockwell, Frank drove back to 336 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,800 Speaker 1: New England, news of his trip to Virginia got home 337 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: before he did. On January fourth, the day after Frank 338 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: arrived at the American Nazi Party barracks in Virginia, the 339 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 1: head of the New England mafia already knew about it, 340 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: and so did j Edgar Hoover. The illegal recording device 341 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,719 Speaker 1: the FBI had installed in Raymond Patriarca's office in nineteen 342 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:43,720 Speaker 1: sixty two recorded several conversations that day. There was some 343 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:48,200 Speaker 1: idle chat about some recent hits, some vague talk about 344 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 1: a stolen diamond, and on the topic of Frank Smith. 345 00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 1: Patriarca was told that Frank had gone down to Virginia 346 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: to visit George Lincoln Rockwell, having become an avowed follow 347 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: while he was in prison. A few days later, on 348 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: January seventh, Frank Smith arrived in Providence, Rhode Island, for 349 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: a face to face meeting with Raymond Patriarca. Later that evening. 350 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,680 Speaker 1: A memo was sent directly to j Edgar Hoover summarizing 351 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 1: the recordings of the conversation in Patriarca's office that day, 352 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: and it says that Frank's primary reason for making contact 353 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,320 Speaker 1: with Patriarca that day was to get his blessing to 354 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:32,199 Speaker 1: do a little loan sharking. He's fresh out of prison 355 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:36,679 Speaker 1: and trying to get back to work. Patriarca gave him 356 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: permission to put a few thousand dollars out on the 357 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:41,639 Speaker 1: street in Boston, as long as it didn't interfere with 358 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,880 Speaker 1: any existing business. But with that out of the way, 359 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:51,200 Speaker 1: Frank kept talking. He's the one who brought up George 360 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 1: Lincoln Rockwell, telling the mob boss that they were close associates, 361 00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:00,800 Speaker 1: and that does end up being true in the future. 362 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: But when he's saying this on a Thursday, he just 363 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: met Rockwell for the first time on Sunday. And then 364 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,480 Speaker 1: he rambles for a little bit about how the army 365 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: has too many black people in it and if black 366 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 1: people outnumber white people in the army, they'll take over 367 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 1: the country. He doesn't say black people, he uses different words, 368 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 1: and he told Patriarca that he just returned from a 369 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:30,480 Speaker 1: visit to the Nazi Party headquarters, and the memo is 370 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: just a narrative. It's not actually a transcription of the recording, 371 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 1: but it says he described the physical layout of the property, 372 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: including how many stormtroopers were there and how they were dressed. 373 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: He shares his upcoming travel plans, which includes trips to 374 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:51,320 Speaker 1: Dallas and Los Angeles to meet with more members of 375 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 1: the American Nazi Party, and then he let Patriarca in 376 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: on his big plan. He wanted to pour a bunch 377 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 1: of money into Rockwell's operation, and the best way to 378 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: do that without causing any legal or tax issues for 379 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: anyone involved, would be to make a Nazi church on 380 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: that land he has up in Maine. At some point 381 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:19,879 Speaker 1: during the meeting, he shows off his machine gun to 382 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: one of the underbosses who's also there, and he says 383 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,440 Speaker 1: the church would be called the White Church of America 384 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: of Maine. He also told Patriarca that Rockwell is planning 385 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:33,880 Speaker 1: to run for governor of Virginia in the election later 386 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:39,479 Speaker 1: that year. Later in this same memo, there's a brief 387 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: mention that Frank told Patriarca that once the Nazis are 388 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: established in New England. Presumably at this Nazi church in Maine, 389 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: they'll be in a good position to infiltrate Massachusetts when 390 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:59,520 Speaker 1: Ed Brooke runs for governor. Edbrooke never ran for governor 391 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: of Massage Chosets, but he did become the first black 392 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: Senator since reconstruction when he was elected to the US 393 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: Senate in nineteen sixty six. In nineteen sixty five, though 394 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: he was the Massachusetts state Attorney General, and as Attorney General, 395 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: he had opened an investigation into the Massachusetts State Racing Commission. 396 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: The Racing Commission allocates what are called racing days. There's 397 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,400 Speaker 1: only a certain number of days per year where horse 398 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: racing can occur and bets can be placed, so the 399 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: Racing Commission decides which tracks have horse races on which days. 400 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: Shortly after he took office in nineteen sixty three, Brooke 401 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: opened an investigation into this allocation process, the process generally, 402 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: but specifically at this significant number of extra days that 403 00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 1: had been allocated to the Hancock Raceway. This this happened to 404 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: be a racetrack that Raymond Patriarca had a significant financial 405 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:10,520 Speaker 1: interest in. George Lincoln Rockwell had a special hatred for 406 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 1: Ed Brooke too. His name actually comes up more than 407 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: a few times in issues of the Rockwell Report, and 408 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: it's always very nasty. Not because Rockwell also had a 409 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: financial interest in horse racing in Massachusetts. Not as far 410 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: as I know, he just hated black people. So Frank's 411 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 1: mention of Brooke in this memo is very brief, and 412 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: it kind of feels out of place in the conversation. 413 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: There's no explanation provided in the memo. You're just supposed 414 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,479 Speaker 1: to know what that means. But I think in this 415 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:53,360 Speaker 1: broader context, it feels like a heavy implication. Right, if 416 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 1: we do business with the Nazis, we all win. If 417 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: we invest in bringing Nazis to New England, if we 418 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: pay to put them up in Maine, it'll be around. 419 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: It'll be available to do something about the possibility of 420 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: a black governor. The memo doesn't include any mention of 421 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: Patriarchra's response to any of this if he had won. 422 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 1: But Frank had his permission to get back to loan sharking, 423 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: so he went back home to Boston happy in January 424 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty five. A lot had changed while Frank 425 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: was away. The world moved on without him, while he 426 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 1: was sitting in prison in Walpole, Massachusetts from nineteen fifty 427 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: seven until the end of nineteen sixty four. The Soviets 428 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 1: launched a dog into outer space. Catholics got a new Pope, 429 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:50,520 Speaker 1: Alaska and Hawaii became states. 430 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 3: John F. 431 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 1: Kennedy was elected president. There was another new Pope. JFK 432 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: was assassinated. The Beatles put out their first record, The 433 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 1: Berlin Wall went up, the Civil Rights Act was signed 434 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 1: to The war in Vietnam was really heating up. I mean, 435 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: it was a busy couple of years for the world, 436 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: and I don't know how much Frank cared about any 437 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: of that. But when he got home to Boston in 438 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 1: November of nineteen sixty four, he found himself in the 439 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:20,960 Speaker 1: middle of a different kind of war. He was released 440 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,480 Speaker 1: from prison during the bloodiest year of the First Boston 441 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: Gang War. I don't know a lot about the mafia. 442 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 1: Like I said last week, that's a totally different kind 443 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:38,280 Speaker 1: of horrible guy than the ones I'm usually looking at. 444 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 1: But now that I've spent the better part of a 445 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:45,560 Speaker 1: week squinting at grainy photo copies of Raymond Patriarca's eight 446 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:51,320 Speaker 1: thousand page FBI file, I guess there are certain similarities 447 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: between the mafia and a Nazi group. You know, it's 448 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,080 Speaker 1: a group of violent men who only barely get along 449 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: in pursuit of their s goals. There's constant splintering and 450 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: infighting and jockeying for power and shifting alliances. There's heavy 451 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: infiltration by the FBI. Half the gang is snitching, whether 452 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: for fun or for profit. I can see how a 453 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,760 Speaker 1: man who has long been at home in one of 454 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,440 Speaker 1: those worlds wouldn't have much trouble stepping into the other. 455 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:29,800 Speaker 1: The details of the stories are obviously quite different. When 456 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: I'm reading old FBI memos about a guy whose life 457 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,400 Speaker 1: story I know half by heart, I can fill in 458 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 1: a lot of the blanks based on context. When every 459 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:44,400 Speaker 1: other line is half redacted. That doesn't work as well. 460 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: When I'm waiting into new territory. I don't know what's 461 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: behind those reactions, so I'm working with more blanks than usual. 462 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,480 Speaker 1: So for this part of the story, I relied much 463 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:59,960 Speaker 1: more heavily than I normally would on secondary sources, rather 464 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: than trying to become enough of an expert on something 465 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: outside my wheelhouse that I can analyze and decipher These 466 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 1: primary sources in the way that I'm comfortable with. To 467 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:14,080 Speaker 1: get my bearings on the Gang War. I read a 468 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 1: summary written by the New England Historical Society, and some 469 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,480 Speaker 1: more detailed write ups on a blog written by Matthew Connolly, 470 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,719 Speaker 1: a retired attorney in Massachusetts who's been writing about the 471 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,799 Speaker 1: history of Boston organized crime for more than a decade. 472 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,360 Speaker 1: I also read some interesting congressional testimony about the FBI's 473 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:34,720 Speaker 1: role in all of this, and part of a hitman's memoir, 474 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:40,040 Speaker 1: but it wasn't very good. I did read as much 475 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: as I physically could of that eight thousand page FBI 476 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:48,120 Speaker 1: file on New England mob boss Raymond Patriarcha. But I 477 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,440 Speaker 1: just want to say how grateful I am to an 478 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:55,120 Speaker 1: outlet called go Local in Providence, Rhode Island. They not 479 00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,800 Speaker 1: only successfully secured the release of that file from the FBI, 480 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: digitized the entire thing, and then spent more than a 481 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:09,280 Speaker 1: year writing about it. So many outlets hoard their primary 482 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,879 Speaker 1: source documents and force you to rely on their analysis 483 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:16,279 Speaker 1: without letting you look at them. So I just love 484 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: to see a reporter making their documents available to the public. 485 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:39,200 Speaker 1: So with that out of the way, the Gang War 486 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:43,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty the Irish gangs in the Boston area 487 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 1: more or less coexisted pretty amicably. There was the winter 488 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,920 Speaker 1: Hill Gang in Somerville led by Buddy McLean, and the 489 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,759 Speaker 1: McLaughlin Gang in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, led by 490 00:35:56,800 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 1: brothers Bernie Georgie and Punchy McLaughlin. They both had their 491 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,359 Speaker 1: own territories and their own operations. They did a little 492 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:09,040 Speaker 1: loan sharking, a little bookmaking the occasional druck high jacking 493 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:14,799 Speaker 1: the usual, and both of these Irish gangs paid tribute 494 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 1: to the same Italian mafia family. Raymond Patriarca head of 495 00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:23,640 Speaker 1: the Patriarcha crime family out of Rhode Island, had agreements 496 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:26,759 Speaker 1: with the New York families that everything east of the 497 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 1: Connecticut River was Patriarcha territory. The Genevesees could keep Hartford, 498 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:38,040 Speaker 1: Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts, but he controlled Rhode Island, Maine, 499 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:44,360 Speaker 1: and most of Massachusetts and Connecticut. In Boston, these Irish 500 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,480 Speaker 1: gangs did a lot of the street level work. They 501 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,080 Speaker 1: stayed out of each other's way, and they paid the 502 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 1: patriarchas for the privilege of doing crime in Boston. Until 503 00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: Labor Day of nineteen sixty one. There are a lot 504 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:04,759 Speaker 1: of vers of what happened here exactly, but they all 505 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:09,319 Speaker 1: boil down to the same basic idea. Georgie McLachlin, a 506 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: member of the McLachlin Gang from Charlestown, disrespected somebody's girl. 507 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:22,040 Speaker 1: Who's girl exactly varies in the retellings, but it's always 508 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:24,480 Speaker 1: the girlfriend of a member of the Winter Hill Gang 509 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:29,840 Speaker 1: from Somerville. The nature of the offense is different depending 510 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:34,080 Speaker 1: on who you ask. Some versions just say he hit 511 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:36,279 Speaker 1: on her and this led to an argument between the men. 512 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,160 Speaker 1: A more elaborate version of the tale says Georgie McLaughlin 513 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: slapped this woman across the face after she refused his advances. 514 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: In one very weird version of this story, he bit 515 00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,560 Speaker 1: the woman. But I can't find any information that makes 516 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:01,520 Speaker 1: that make any more sense. But in every version of 517 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:05,800 Speaker 1: the story, Georgie McLaughlin got the shit kicked out of 518 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,080 Speaker 1: him from making a pass at a woman who was 519 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:14,560 Speaker 1: spoken for by a member of the other gang. While 520 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:18,040 Speaker 1: Georgie was recovering in the hospital, his two brothers went 521 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: to Buddy McLean, head of the Winter Hill Gang, and 522 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,200 Speaker 1: they asked him to turn over the names of the 523 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,520 Speaker 1: men who'd put Georgie in the hospital, but he refused, 524 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:32,360 Speaker 1: so they wired dynamite to the ignition switch on his 525 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,800 Speaker 1: wife's car. The bomb was faulty and no one got hurt, 526 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,360 Speaker 1: but now everybody's pretty upset. So Buddy mc lean responded 527 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:49,319 Speaker 1: to this attempted assassination by murdering Bernie McLaughlin, Georgie's older brother. 528 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:55,399 Speaker 1: And just as a strange little side note here, when 529 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:59,279 Speaker 1: Buddy mc lean shot Bernie McLaughlin, he had a getaway driver, 530 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:05,360 Speaker 1: a man named Alexander Petrocone. Both men were arrested for 531 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,600 Speaker 1: this murder. I mean it happened in broad daylight in 532 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:12,520 Speaker 1: front of a ton of witnesses, but when they got 533 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:15,200 Speaker 1: the case in front of a grand jury, he couldn't 534 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,799 Speaker 1: get an indictment. Nobody wants to testify in the middle 535 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:23,520 Speaker 1: of a gang war. Once he was out, Petrocone saw 536 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:26,399 Speaker 1: the writing on the wall. Things are getting too hot 537 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:29,319 Speaker 1: here and the smart move is to get out of 538 00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:35,360 Speaker 1: town for good. So he did. He moved to California 539 00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:39,239 Speaker 1: and changed his name to alex Rocco. He signed up 540 00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 1: for acting lessons with Leonard Nimoy and in nineteen seventy two, 541 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 1: he was cast in The Godfather for the role of 542 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:52,839 Speaker 1: Moe Green, the Las Vegas casino owner. After the Winter 543 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,400 Speaker 1: Hill Boys murdered one of the McLoughlin brothers in the 544 00:39:55,400 --> 00:40:00,760 Speaker 1: fall of nineteen sixty one, things spiraled out of control. 545 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,480 Speaker 1: What started out is a moment of drunken rudeness at 546 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:09,360 Speaker 1: a Labor Day beach party had escalated into a full 547 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:15,840 Speaker 1: blown war that lasted years and killed dozens of people, 548 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:21,720 Speaker 1: some of them in horrific ways. I don't think Raymond 549 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,880 Speaker 1: Patriarca particularly cared if a bunch of irishmen in Boston 550 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:30,720 Speaker 1: killed each other, but it was bad for business. Both 551 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:35,360 Speaker 1: of these gangs had been working for and paying him, 552 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:38,319 Speaker 1: but now they're too busy fighting each other to do 553 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:42,400 Speaker 1: either of those things. It was hurting revenue, and it 554 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:46,400 Speaker 1: was attracting a lot of unwonted attention from law enforcement. 555 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:52,000 Speaker 1: The killing started in the fall of nineteen sixty one 556 00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:56,760 Speaker 1: and between March of sixty four in January of sixty 557 00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:00,480 Speaker 1: five alone. In that nine month period, there were at 558 00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:07,600 Speaker 1: least eighteen successful hits in Boston. An FBI memo dated 559 00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:11,880 Speaker 1: January twenty sixth, nineteen sixty five describes a conversation that 560 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:15,920 Speaker 1: took place in Patriarca's office about the escalation of violence 561 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:21,279 Speaker 1: in recent months. People were scared, they were staying off 562 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:25,080 Speaker 1: the streets, and guys who aren't out on the streets 563 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:30,799 Speaker 1: aren't collecting payments. This conversation was recorded just a day 564 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:33,680 Speaker 1: after someone shot Joe Francone in the head inside of 565 00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:39,240 Speaker 1: his own apartment. Patriarcha said, if the killings don't stop, 566 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:45,439 Speaker 1: I'll declare martial law. Six weeks later, on March tenth, 567 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:49,200 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, Frank Smith was back in Providence to 568 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:53,160 Speaker 1: meet with Patriarca again. This time he was looking for 569 00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:55,640 Speaker 1: permission to run a gambling operation out of the back 570 00:41:55,640 --> 00:42:00,440 Speaker 1: of a restaurant in East Boston. Patriarcha and give him 571 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,120 Speaker 1: a final answer on the matter, but he said he'd 572 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 1: make a decision after he'd talked to one of his 573 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:09,879 Speaker 1: guys in Boston. But again, you know, while he's here, 574 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:14,360 Speaker 1: while he's got the boss's ear, Frank starts talking and 575 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:17,319 Speaker 1: he's going on about Rockwell again. He's ranting about the 576 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,160 Speaker 1: Jews and about black people, and he says that this 577 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:24,640 Speaker 1: plan to open a Nazi church in Maine is starting 578 00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:28,040 Speaker 1: to move forward, and it'll be a good, clean way 579 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:32,680 Speaker 1: to fund the American Nazi Party. He's optimistic about Rockwell's 580 00:42:32,719 --> 00:42:36,280 Speaker 1: chances of winning the upcoming election for governor in Virginia, 581 00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:40,799 Speaker 1: and he tells Patriarca that if Rockwell does win, he's 582 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:44,040 Speaker 1: already promised Frank that he can run all the illegal 583 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:48,760 Speaker 1: activity down in the Norfolk, Virginia area, and of course 584 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:53,080 Speaker 1: Frank's willing to cut Patriarca in on that in exchange 585 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:59,760 Speaker 1: for a little assistance. Maybe Raymond Patriarca really did intend 586 00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:01,719 Speaker 1: to talk to the guy who ran the gambling in 587 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 1: East Boston before he gave Frank a yes or no answer, 588 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,520 Speaker 1: Or maybe he didn't think Frank's craps games in the 589 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:12,240 Speaker 1: back of a restaurant was going to be anybody's problem anymore. 590 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:17,200 Speaker 1: In memos dated just days before Frank shows up in 591 00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:23,560 Speaker 1: Providence in March, Patriarca tells close associates that he's frustrated 592 00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:28,600 Speaker 1: with Frank. Frank talks too much, Frank moves too fast, 593 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:33,920 Speaker 1: and he's out of line. The week before Frank Smith 594 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:39,919 Speaker 1: got shot, an FBI memo describes Raymond Patriarcha as enraged 595 00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:44,480 Speaker 1: when he found out that hit in January had been 596 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:50,440 Speaker 1: done on Frank's orders. The wiretap then recorded him making 597 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:55,840 Speaker 1: arrangements to meet with Jimmy Flemy and Joe Barboza later 598 00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:01,360 Speaker 1: in the garage. Whatever it was that he had to 599 00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:05,080 Speaker 1: say to two of the most prolific murderers on his payroll, 600 00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:11,919 Speaker 1: he didn't say it near that FBI microphone. Next week, 601 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:14,640 Speaker 1: we'll talk about the two years Frank Smith spent as 602 00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:18,880 Speaker 1: George Lincoln Rockwell's best friend, the woman half his age 603 00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,640 Speaker 1: he married after meeting her in a Nazi campaign office, 604 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:27,600 Speaker 1: the brief tragic life of Rockwell's Secret Baby, and more 605 00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:32,080 Speaker 1: than a decade after Rockwell's death, Frank finally gets around 606 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:49,560 Speaker 1: to starting that fake church. Weird Little Guys as a 607 00:44:49,560 --> 00:44:52,560 Speaker 1: production of Cool Zone Media and iHeartRadio. It's researched, written 608 00:44:52,560 --> 00:44:55,839 Speaker 1: and recorded by me Wiley Conger. Our executive producers are 609 00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:58,680 Speaker 1: Sophie Lichtermann and Robert Evans. The show is edited by 610 00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:00,919 Speaker 1: I Think Wildly Talented where he Ga. The theme music 611 00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:03,719 Speaker 1: was composed by Brad Dickert. You can email me at 612 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,040 Speaker 1: Weird Little Guys Podcast at gmail dot com. I will 613 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:08,319 Speaker 1: definitely read it, but I probably won't answer it. It's 614 00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:11,960 Speaker 1: nothing personal. You can exchange conspiracy theories about the show 615 00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:15,200 Speaker 1: with other listeners only Weird Little Guys sub reddit. Just 616 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:18,640 Speaker 1: don't post anything you wouldn't say into the FBI wiretap