1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Col Zone Media. 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,399 Speaker 2: At two forty six pm on March first, nineteen sixty seven, 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 2: a baby girl was born at a small hospital in Maine. 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 2: Her mother had been admitted to the maternity ward under 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 2: a fake name, and the man in the waiting room 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 2: knew he wasn't the father. The baby seemed healthy, and 7 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,639 Speaker 2: when the woman felt confident that her daughter was free 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 2: from the mysterious affliction that had claimed the life of 9 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:38,279 Speaker 2: her first child, she revealed the baby's existence to her 10 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 2: real father. For a brief moment that summer, they were 11 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,599 Speaker 2: a family. A man who had abandoned an entire family 12 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 2: twice over already now seemed overjoyed to have this baby 13 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 2: in his life. But the summer of nineteen sixty seven 14 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 2: had a series of unhapp be endings for George Lincoln Rockwell. 15 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 2: He spent the last week of his own life mourning 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 2: the death of his infant daughter, and after his assassination, 17 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 2: his mistress burned all the evidence that their daughter had 18 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 2: ever existed, including the birth certificate signed by her dead 19 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 2: lover's closest friend, Frank Smith. I'm Molly Conger, and this 20 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 2: is where little guys. Early on in this roundabout process 21 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 2: of figuring out who Frank Smith was. I was reading 22 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 2: the transcript of his testimony at John Patler's trial. In 23 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 2: those rambling pages, he told the court that he was 24 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 2: the closest friend Commander Rockwell had. That's a pretty bold 25 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 2: statement from a guy whose name really only appears in 26 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 2: passing and even the most comprehensive biographies of George Lincoln Rockwell. 27 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 2: But like I said earlier in this series, it was 28 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 2: Frank's testimony at that trial that got me interested in 29 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 2: his story in the first place, because he had a 30 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 2: way of speaking that I've heard before. He testified like 31 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 2: a man with a lot of practice lying to the cops. 32 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 2: So I read his testimony with interest, but not necessarily 33 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 2: for the truth. And then I found a pair of recordings. 34 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 2: It's always such an incredible treasure to have actual audio 35 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 2: of my weird little guy. I don't always get that, 36 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 2: especially when it comes to stories that are further in 37 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 2: the past or stories about more obscure figures, and Frank 38 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 2: is both. But I lucked into more than two hours 39 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 2: of actual audio of Frank talking to a reporter back 40 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty eight, and I found another hour from 41 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 2: a conversation he had with a Nazi podcaster in twenty sixteen. 42 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 2: In that pair of interviews, nearly fifty years apart, he 43 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 2: describes himself again as the best friend Rockwell had during 44 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 2: the two years they knew each other from nineteen sixty 45 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 2: five until Rockwell's death in August of nineteen sixty seven. 46 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 2: Repeating the same claim over and over again doesn't make 47 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 2: it any truer, obviously, But what an odd thing to 48 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 2: insist upon for decades, isn't it. Male friendship can be 49 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 2: a tricky thing to understand, even under normal circumstances, but 50 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 2: the brief, tragic life of Rockwell's infant daughter points to 51 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 2: the possibility that Frank really was one of George Lincoln 52 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 2: Rockwell's closest friends in the final years of his life. 53 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 2: Not many men would sign their name on the birth 54 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 2: certificate of someone else's illegitimate child just to ease their 55 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 2: emotional burden. I don't think so anyway, And we'll get 56 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 2: to the secret pregnancy of Rockwell's mistress in a bit, 57 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,799 Speaker 2: But I think this idea sort of sets the stage 58 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:36,039 Speaker 2: for the kind of relationship these men had. There's so 59 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 2: little evidence of it that survives on paper, and Frank 60 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 2: is an unreliable narrator, but I think the bond they 61 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,279 Speaker 2: formed over the course of those two years must have 62 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 2: been real. When we left off last week, Frank Smith 63 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 2: was in the hospital in March of nineteen sixty five. 64 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 2: He was shot five to by two men who were 65 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 2: never identified. The shooting was never officially soft and Frank's 66 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 2: version of events varies depending on his mood, but he 67 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 2: was almost certainly an attempted hit carried out by associates 68 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 2: of the Patriarcha crime family. There was an ongoing gang 69 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:23,160 Speaker 2: war in Boston and Frank had gotten in over his head. 70 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,799 Speaker 2: Just days before Frank was shot, a wire tap captured 71 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 2: Raymond Patriarcha in a rage after he found out that 72 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 2: Frank had been sanctioning hits without his permission. Frank barely 73 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 2: survived the shooting, and he spent a month in the hospital. 74 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 2: When he was finally well enough to appear in court, 75 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 2: he had to answer for the loaded revolver and brass knuckles. 76 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 2: Police founded his car on the night of the shooting. 77 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 2: At his arraignment, a Boston Globe reporter saw him having 78 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 2: a whispered conversation with an unnamed man described only as 79 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 2: his business partner in a land deal in Maine. This 80 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 2: has to be the land that he had just promised 81 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 2: to the American Nazi Party for their whites only church, 82 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 2: But the paper doesn't offer any hint as to who 83 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 2: that man might have been. I don't think it could 84 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 2: have been George Lincoln Rockwell, though for one thing, the 85 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,720 Speaker 2: reporter would have recognized him. But even if that particular 86 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,599 Speaker 2: journalist didn't know what the famous Nazi looked like, George 87 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 2: Lincoln Rockwell was a famous enough man that he usually 88 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 2: ended up in the newspaper wherever he went, so it's 89 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 2: almost possible to put together a day by day accounting 90 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 2: of his whereabouts if you're willing to pick through enough 91 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 2: local newspapers. On the day of Frank's hearing, April sixteenth, 92 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty five, I can't tell you exactly where Rockwell was, 93 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 2: but I can play him elsewhere. In the days before 94 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 2: and after, newspapers in Ohio reported that an auditorium full 95 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 2: of college students laughed at him on April fourteenth when 96 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 2: he announced for the first time that he planned to 97 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 2: run for governor of Virginia, and reporters in Virginia photographed 98 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 2: him on April nineteenth when he marched into an office 99 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 2: in Richmond to file paperwork for his campaign. So it 100 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 2: wasn't rockwell, but whoever it was. Despite his bullet wounds, 101 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 2: Frank was still trying to move forward with the plan 102 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 2: to start a Nazi church on his property in Maine. 103 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 2: A few days after his arraignment, Frank was convicted on 104 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 2: the pair of weapons charges in Massachusetts. The Boston Globe 105 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 2: described him looking pale and weak in the courtroom, obviously 106 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 2: still recovering from his brush with death. During the hearing, 107 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 2: his attorney yanked the shirt right off Frank's back to 108 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 2: show the judge how serious his injuries were, and pleading 109 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 2: with the judge to go easy on him. They weren't 110 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 2: arguing his innocence at that point. They were begging for 111 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 2: his life. If he stayed in Massachusetts, the people who 112 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 2: shot him would try again, and he wouldn't survive a 113 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 2: second hit. His lawyer told the court that if they 114 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 2: let him walk free, he would quote leave the state 115 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 2: to protect himself and society. If there is another attempt 116 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 2: on his life, we don't want it in mis jurisdiction. 117 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 2: This worked, apparently, despite finding him guilty on both charges, 118 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 2: the judge suspended the two years sentence, and Frank was 119 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 2: free to go. Pulling his clients shirt off in the 120 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 2: middle of the courtroom was a little dramatic, but I 121 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 2: don't think his attorney was lying. Frank had to get 122 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 2: out of town. The Boston gang war wasn't over, and 123 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 2: somebody obviously wanted him dead. He'd lost his right eye 124 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:16,559 Speaker 2: entirely several years earlier in some unspecified accident, and the 125 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 2: shooting had left him half blind in his remaining eye. 126 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 2: He wouldn't regain full use of his left arm for 127 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 2: another two years. He was weak, wounded, and he didn't 128 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 2: know who his friends were anymore. Now I know. I 129 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 2: said the shooting was never solved, and it wasn't not technically. 130 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 2: Nobody was ever arrested, charged, tried, or convicted for it. 131 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 2: But two months after Frank was shot, an FBI wiretap 132 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 2: recorded a conversation about shooting him again. In May of 133 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty five, a hit man named Jimmy Flemy told 134 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 2: Providence mob boss Raymond Patriarcha that if he ever saw 135 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 2: Frank again, he would finish him. Patriarcha gave Flemy his 136 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 2: blessing in part because he was very upset to hear 137 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 2: that Frank had been referring to made men as guineas, 138 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,199 Speaker 2: an anti Italian slur that he seems to have been 139 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 2: pretty sensitive about. You might remember that this is the 140 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 2: same Jimmy Flemy who was recorded meeting with Patriarcha a 141 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 2: few days before Frank was shot, and that conversation had 142 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 2: been about how Frank was becoming a problem. It seems 143 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 2: pretty clear to me, at least, that there's a strong 144 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 2: case to be made that Jimmy Flemy shot Frank shortly 145 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 2: after their first conversation about killing Frank and before their 146 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 2: second conversation about killing Frank. Jimmy Flemy became an FBI informant, 147 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 2: and that could explain why there was no real investigation 148 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 2: into who shot Frank. We know, beyond a shadow of 149 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:16,199 Speaker 2: a doubt that Jimmy Flemy's handler was protecting him. That happens. 150 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 2: We don't usually find out the nitty gritty details, but 151 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 2: the FBI does have a pretty messy history when it 152 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,679 Speaker 2: comes to looking the other way when their informants commit 153 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,959 Speaker 2: crimes and the agent handling Jimmy Flemy knew he was 154 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:36,959 Speaker 2: a hitman. That is sometimes the cost of doing business. 155 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 2: When you're trying to flip mobsters, you have to make 156 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,080 Speaker 2: a deal with the devil, so to speak, if you 157 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 2: want to catch the guy further up the chain. But 158 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 2: Agent Paul Rico very famously took this way too far. 159 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 2: In a memo dated June of nineteen sixty five, j 160 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 2: Edgar Hoover was informed that Lemmy had the tential to 161 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 2: be an excellent informant in building a case against Raymond Patriarca. 162 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 2: The same memo notes that Jimmy Flemy is known to 163 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 2: have committed at least seven murders and quote from all indications, 164 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:24,439 Speaker 2: he is going to continue to commit murder. There were 165 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 2: allegations for decades there was a lot of rot, and 166 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 2: a lot of people could smell it. There were dirty 167 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 2: cops and protected informants. The corruption ran deep. It wasn't 168 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 2: until decades later that there was proof of just how deep. 169 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 2: In two thousand and three, the House Committee on Government 170 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 2: Reform adopted a report called Everything Secret Degenerates the FBI's 171 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 2: Use of murderers as informants. This report is about Jimmy 172 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 2: Flemy mostly. Its specific focus is the murder of a 173 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 2: man named Teddy Degan in March of nineteen sixty five. 174 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,079 Speaker 2: But because Teddy Degan was murdered three days before Frank 175 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 2: was shot, Frank's name pops up a few times in 176 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:25,920 Speaker 2: this report. The exhibits that were preserved in the Congressional 177 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 2: Record are some of the only unredacted pages of those 178 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:33,560 Speaker 2: FBI files, so it offered me some more insight into 179 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:39,080 Speaker 2: the events surrounding the shooting. The whole story is much 180 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 2: more than we can get into here, but it's pretty shocking. 181 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 2: Teddy Degan was murdered the same day that agent Rico 182 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:53,040 Speaker 2: started developing Jimmy Flemy as an informant, which was several 183 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 2: days after the FBI overheard him planning Deagan's murder on 184 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 2: that wiretap. Agent Rico didn't just look the other way 185 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 2: while his informant went about his business. No, he actively 186 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:16,319 Speaker 2: covered up a murder committed by his informant, and then 187 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 2: he arranged for innocent men to be framed for that 188 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 2: murder by coaching other informants to provide false testimony at trial. 189 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 2: He paid people to perjure themselves, and people died in 190 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 2: prison so the FBI could keep this informant on the streets. 191 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 2: When Rico was called before Congress more than thirty years 192 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 2: later to testify about his role in this cover up. 193 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 2: He had no remorse when he was asked about the 194 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 2: four men he'd sent to prison for a murder he 195 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 2: knew they didn't commit, He said, what do you want tears? 196 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 2: By the time Rico was sitting in front of Congress 197 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 2: testifying about it, two of those four men he framed 198 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 2: had already died in prison. The other two were released 199 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:13,240 Speaker 2: in two thousand one when they won their wrongful conviction lawsuits. 200 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:17,480 Speaker 2: In two thousand seven, the one hundred million dollar payout 201 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 2: was the largest sum ever awarded under the Federal Tort 202 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 2: Claims Act, which is the law that allows you to 203 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 2: sue the federal government. That record has since been broken. 204 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 2: In twenty twenty one, the Department of Defense was ordered 205 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,680 Speaker 2: to pay two hundred and thirty million dollars to the 206 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 2: families and survivors of a mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas. 207 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 2: The Air Force failed to report a court martial conviction 208 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 2: that would have prevented the shooter from purchasing the gun 209 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 2: that he used to murder twenty six people. In two 210 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 2: thousand three, former FBI agent Paul Rico was indicted on 211 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 2: murder charges for asking Whitey Bulger to arrange the death 212 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 2: of the owner of the World Highlyily Rigo was beaten 213 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 2: to death in prison three months later before he could 214 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 2: face trial. I know this is pretty far afield of 215 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 2: our main storyline, even for me, But the Congressional report 216 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,200 Speaker 2: on the FBI's misconduct in New England in the nineteen sixties, 217 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 2: it's kind of unique. You don't usually get this kind 218 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 2: of peak behind the curtain, this kind of granular deconstruction, 219 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 2: this moment by moment chronology of the way the FBI 220 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 2: is actively involved in not just shaping the narrative about 221 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 2: the crimes they're investigating, but involved in the crimes themselves. 222 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 2: The report is unique, but I'm not sure the underlying 223 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 2: conduct is the fact that this report exists just raises 224 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 2: more questions about how the FBI was handling their informants 225 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 2: in other areas during that same time period. You know, 226 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 2: maybe the Mafia wasn't the only group whose members were 227 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 2: both under investigation by and sometimes under the direction and 228 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 2: protection of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It reminds me 229 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 2: a little bit of the Greensboro massacre in nineteen seventy nine, 230 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 2: a group of Nazis and klansmen murdered five communist organizers 231 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 2: in North Carolina. An undercover atf agent was at the 232 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:42,639 Speaker 2: meeting where the attack was planned, and he failed to 233 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:48,439 Speaker 2: report that klansmen had discussed making bombs. The man leading 234 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:54,639 Speaker 2: the Nazi caravan had been an FBI informant for a decade. 235 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:59,160 Speaker 2: The local police and the FBI knew what was going 236 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 2: to happen, and cesar cause. James Waller, William E. Fan Simpson, 237 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 2: Sandra Neelie Smith, and Michael Nathan were murdered. Anyway, one 238 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:14,640 Speaker 2: of these days, I'll finally get around telling you about 239 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 2: a very modern day example of exactly this sort of thing. 240 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 2: It's been weighing heavily on my mind for a couple 241 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:25,639 Speaker 2: of years now, but I keep putting off going to 242 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 2: the post office so I can get a PO box, 243 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 2: so I can write the man in prison. It's only 244 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 2: fair in this case to ask him for his side 245 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 2: of things. But we were talking about Frank Smith. Personally, 246 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:46,160 Speaker 2: I think Jimmy Flemy shot him, but I guess we'll 247 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 2: never know. In late April of nineteen sixty five, Frank 248 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 2: was released from jail and he went up to Maine 249 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 2: to lay low. When Jimmy Flemy asked for permission to 250 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 2: finish him off in May, he mentioned to Patriarca that 251 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 2: Frank had been seen up in Maine in the company 252 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 2: of someone he identifies only as the Colonel. Okay, now 253 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 2: we're back in my territory. Because it doesn't sound like 254 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:20,680 Speaker 2: the mafia guys know who the Colonel is, but I do. 255 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:27,920 Speaker 2: That's American Nazi Party member Alan welsh Well. 256 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 3: The Commander sent his deputy, Alan welsh up to Island Falls. 257 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:39,480 Speaker 1: Maine, to meet me and to drive this automobile and 258 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: myself down to Arlington, Virginia, approximately at the middle of 259 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: the month of September nineteen sixty five. 260 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 2: By his own telling, Frank was home in Maine licking 261 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 2: his wounds all summer in nineteen sixty five, and he 262 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 2: didn't have much contact during that time with the American 263 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:05,919 Speaker 2: Nazi Party. Rockwell was busy running for governor, Frank was 264 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 2: busy hiding from the mafia, but they did exchange a 265 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 2: couple of letters. Frank claims he wrote to Rockwell saying 266 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 2: he couldn't really be of much help on the campaign 267 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 2: trail because of his injuries, but he offered the use 268 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 2: of his car. The American Nazi Party was most of 269 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 2: the time dead broke, nobody had a nice car that 270 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,480 Speaker 2: would look slick pulling up to a campaign stop. But 271 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 2: Frank owned a Lincoln Continental, a black convertible with a 272 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 2: white top, which he describes as just like the one 273 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,399 Speaker 2: JFK was riding in when he got assassinated, and he 274 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:51,480 Speaker 2: thought that would look good at campaign stops. Being nearly blind, though, 275 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,520 Speaker 2: he couldn't very well drive it down to Virginia from Maine, 276 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,679 Speaker 2: so Rockwell sent a stormtrooper up to bring Frank and 277 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 2: the Lincoln down to the Nazi Party barracks in Arlington 278 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 2: in September. That's what Frank told the reporter. That's what 279 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:12,160 Speaker 2: he testified to at Patler's trial. And I can't actually 280 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:18,399 Speaker 2: place Frank in Virginia any earlier than September, but that 281 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 2: FBI memo places Alan Welch in Maine with Frank on 282 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,760 Speaker 2: May first, barely a week after Frank got out of 283 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 2: jail and headed north. And I know Welch didn't spend 284 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 2: all summer in Maine because I have him in the 285 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 2: newspaper talking to reporters in June and July and he's 286 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 2: in Virginia, so he must have made multiple trips up 287 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:48,120 Speaker 2: to Maine that summer, a curious omission from Frank's version 288 00:21:48,119 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 2: of events. When Frank Welsh and the convertible finally did 289 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 2: make it down to Virginia in September, they stopped off 290 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,360 Speaker 2: at the Nazi head quarters in Arlington and then continued 291 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 2: to their final destination, Richmond. The election was just two 292 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 2: months away, and George Lincoln Rockwell had set up a 293 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,879 Speaker 2: campaign headquarters in downtown Richmond, just a few blocks from 294 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:30,639 Speaker 2: the capitol. I found an old newspaper ad that the 295 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,199 Speaker 2: campaign ran in the Richmond Times Dispatch to announce the 296 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 2: grand opening of that office in August. The ad read 297 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,399 Speaker 2: the only party and the only candidate not afraid to 298 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 2: deal forthrightly with the race problem and the Communist subversion 299 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 2: of our Christian constitutional Republic. One hundred percent for segregation, 300 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:54,439 Speaker 2: States rights, anti communism. Get your free copy of the 301 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 2: inspiring program that will insure White Christian supremacy in Virginia. 302 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 2: The address listed for the office doesn't exist anymore. I 303 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 2: think they've renumbered the street in the intervening decades, and 304 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 2: the photos of the office don't match any of the 305 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 2: buildings on the block where it used to be, but 306 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,920 Speaker 2: based on a description of the cross streets nearest the office, 307 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 2: I know that I have gotten my credit card stuck 308 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 2: in the payment machine at the parking garage built on 309 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,399 Speaker 2: top of what used to be George Lincoln Rockwall's campaign headquarters. 310 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:34,960 Speaker 2: What a small world it was at the Richmond campaign 311 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:39,359 Speaker 2: office where Frank Smith first met Claudia mccullors, a woman 312 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 2: half his age who'd come up from Alabama to volunteer 313 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 2: as a secretary for Rockwall's campaign. Again, he was nearly blind, 314 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 2: so he depended heavily on Allan Welsh to get around, 315 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 2: and he later said that when he first saw Claudia, 316 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,440 Speaker 2: he thought he might prefer the idea of a pretty 317 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:02,480 Speaker 2: young lady driving him around. Told her as much, He said, 318 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 2: if she would be his secretary, his driver and his eyes, 319 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 2: he'd buy her a new car. They married a year later. 320 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 2: George Lincoln Rockwell's campaign for Governor of Virginia was mercifully short. 321 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 2: He only announced that he was running in April, barely 322 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,720 Speaker 2: six months before the election, and he didn't set up 323 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:32,159 Speaker 2: the office until August. In those short couple of months, 324 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:37,920 Speaker 2: he pulled all manner of grotesque little racist stunts. He 325 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 2: criss crossed the state giving racist stump speeches. At a 326 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:47,119 Speaker 2: speech in a public park in Fredericksburg, one so laden 327 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 2: with racial slurs that I couldn't cut an acceptable clip 328 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,159 Speaker 2: of it. He reached under the lectern as he was 329 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:57,160 Speaker 2: speaking and pulled out a rifle, waving it around as 330 00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 2: he ranted about the need to arm white men to 331 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:04,199 Speaker 2: keep the black population under control. In the lead up 332 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:08,479 Speaker 2: to the election, Nazi stormtroopers disrupted his opponent's campaign events. 333 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,679 Speaker 2: When Republican candidate Lynwood Houlton held a black tie fundraiser 334 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 2: in DC, Alan Welch interrupted a speech to demand that 335 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 2: Holton debate Rockwell. The record indicates that Richard Nixon was 336 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 2: in attendance, but doesn't say what he thought of this. 337 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 2: When Democratic candidate Mills Godwin held a similar event a 338 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 2: few days later, this time it was Matius Cole who 339 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 2: interrupted the speeches, asking Godwin, if you believe in equality, 340 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 2: would you debate mister Rockwell. There's an undated photo in 341 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 2: an issue of Stormtrooper magazine that shows Frank sitting in 342 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 2: the backseat of his Lincoln convertible next to a man 343 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 2: in blackface. They were probably on their way to crash 344 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 2: a press conference. There were several incidents in a Nazi 345 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:05,159 Speaker 2: stormtrooper in blackface confronting one of the other candidates or 346 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 2: a TV news camera. One of Rockwell's supporters was arrested 347 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 2: in Washington, d C. After bursting into the House chambers 348 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 2: while Congress was in session. He unfurled a Nazi banner, 349 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:22,600 Speaker 2: shouting Siegile and long live Rockwell. And in the several 350 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 2: minutes that it took for Capital Security to get him 351 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:29,360 Speaker 2: under control, he managed to throw hundreds of little flyers 352 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 2: over the railing so that they rained down on the congressman. 353 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 2: And as these little handbills settled onto the floor, members 354 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 2: of Congress saw that they were made up to look 355 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,680 Speaker 2: like boat tickets. The text is too crude to repeat, 356 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 2: but these novelty tickets claimed to offer any black person 357 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:55,159 Speaker 2: a one way boat ride back to Africa. As if 358 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 2: there was any doubt about who was behind the stunt, 359 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 2: each flyer sat at the bottom and fine print copyright 360 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:09,359 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty five, Lincoln Rockwell. A few weeks after the 361 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 2: incident at the Capitol, another member pulled the same stunt 362 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,720 Speaker 2: racist boat tickets and all, but this time at the 363 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:23,120 Speaker 2: NAACP state convention in Roanoke. The newspaper reports about both 364 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 2: incidents described the tickets, but not in great detail. An 365 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 2: issue of Stormtrooper magazine reproduced the entire image and it 366 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:39,160 Speaker 2: is I mean, it's really something. I don't think it's 367 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,280 Speaker 2: possible to pack in any more racist and per square inch. 368 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 2: I mean, these guys were professionals. After the success of 369 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 2: those stunts, some members wrote in to ask if the 370 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 2: party would mail them a batch so they could hand 371 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 2: them out to black people on the street for their 372 00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:00,840 Speaker 2: own racist amusement. Subsequent issues of the party's magazine offered 373 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,199 Speaker 2: the tickets for sale on the back page, where they 374 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 2: sold racist literature fifty for a dollar and through it all. 375 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:14,679 Speaker 2: Frank Smith was Rockwell's shadow. He says that he was 376 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:19,359 Speaker 2: acting as Rockwell's bodyguard, but that seems like an awful idea. 377 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,439 Speaker 2: He may have been a boxer in his youth, but 378 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 2: he's in his mid forties now, I mean, that's not 379 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:30,640 Speaker 2: so old. But he's also recovering from multiple gunshot wounds, 380 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:35,439 Speaker 2: and he's had heart surgery, and he has very limited 381 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 2: use of his left hand and arm. So not only 382 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 2: was he not going to be of any use in 383 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 2: a physical fight. He wasn't even going to see a 384 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 2: potential threat coming. 385 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 3: I acted as a bodyguid for him. And this is 386 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 3: the humor's part about it. I used to stride a 387 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:58,640 Speaker 3: side of him with the most determined air, and I 388 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 3: used to look people right in the face. And the 389 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 3: only thing was that I had to watch. I didn't 390 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 3: stumble over the stairs and the people I are looking at. 391 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 3: The only thing I could say was the shape of 392 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 3: the form. That's how I was actually literally blind twenty 393 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 3: two hundred. 394 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 2: But everywhere Rockwell went, Frank Smith went too. In September, 395 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 2: the Nazis paid to have a booth at the State 396 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 2: Fair outside of Richmond. By all accounts, the display was obscene. 397 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 2: They had their usual racist flyers, of course, but the 398 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 2: booth also featured a live monkey. The sign on the 399 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,640 Speaker 2: monkey's cage bore a derogatory remark about Martin Luther King Junior. 400 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 2: In the lead up to the State Fair, the local 401 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 2: NAACP warned black residents to stay away from the event 402 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 2: entirely citing the possibility of violence. The company that operated 403 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 2: the fair went to court to seek an injunction again 404 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 2: against the display and terminating the lease for the booth space. Now, 405 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 2: this is just a civil proceeding. They're not pressing a 406 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 2: criminal charge. But in their petition they did cite a 407 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 2: relevant criminal statute in the Virginia Code. It was and 408 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:23,600 Speaker 2: still is a felony in Virginia to conspire to incite 409 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 2: the population of one race to acts of violence and 410 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 2: war against the population of another race. It is technically 411 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 2: a felony in Virginia should try to start a race war. 412 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 2: I don't know how that factored into the judge's decision, 413 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,320 Speaker 2: but he did grant the injunction, and the Nazis were 414 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:49,880 Speaker 2: evicted from their booth at the State Fair after losing 415 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,080 Speaker 2: in court. There wasn't enough daylight left to pack up 416 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 2: their things at the fairgrounds. Now, in the normal course 417 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 2: of events, exhibitors leave most of their materials the booth overnight. 418 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 2: There's no one there. There's presumably security. You lock up 419 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 2: the valuables, but the bulk of your display just sits 420 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 2: there until the fair is over. You don't pack it 421 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 2: in and out every night. But now that the injunction 422 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 2: had been granted, Rockwell was concerned that if he left 423 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:22,840 Speaker 2: his items unattended, someone would throw them away before he 424 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 2: had a chance to pack them up. So he spent 425 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 2: the night at the empty fair grounds, just George Lincoln Rockwell, 426 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 2: Frank Smith, and that poor monkey sitting there in the 427 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 2: dark all night, waiting for the Nazi stormtroopers to come 428 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 2: pick them up. The Richmond Times Dispatch reported that in 429 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:48,520 Speaker 2: their haste to tear down the display, the monkey escaped. 430 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,719 Speaker 2: There's no other mention anywhere that I could find of 431 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,080 Speaker 2: what became of this monkey. The article does not say 432 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 2: if it was safely apprehended. George Lincoln Rockwell did not 433 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 2: become the governor of Virginia in nineteen sixty five. Obviously, 434 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 2: Mills Godwin did, a fact you almost certainly do not 435 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,560 Speaker 2: remember from a pair of episode's last fall in the 436 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,160 Speaker 2: story of Pennsylvania Clansmen Berry Black, when I was talking 437 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:25,760 Speaker 2: about the history of Virginia's cross burning laws. After Mills 438 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 2: Godwin was elected governor of Virginia nineteen sixty five, he 439 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 2: declared war on the Klan, and the clan responded by 440 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 2: burning a cross outside the Governor's mansion. But that's neither 441 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:41,680 Speaker 2: here nor there today. In that nineteen sixty five election, 442 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 2: George Lincoln. Rockwell got about six thousand votes, were one 443 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 2: percent of the total cast. His final campaign finance report 444 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 2: claimed twenty thousand, six hundred and thirty one dollars in expenses. 445 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:58,920 Speaker 2: The newspaper reported that the figure included four thousand dollars 446 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 2: for advertising, five hundred for travel, and twenty two hundred 447 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:06,720 Speaker 2: on printing and postage. I could not find any reporting 448 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 2: on what the monkey budget was. Rockwell is never going 449 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:17,280 Speaker 2: to win. Nobody thought he was going to win. I mean, 450 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,880 Speaker 2: Frank said he thought there was a chance, and Rockwell 451 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 2: told British Nazi Colin Jordan that he thought he had 452 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 2: a chance. But I don't think either of them really 453 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 2: believed that. But in the mid nineteen sixties, the FBI 454 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,680 Speaker 2: was deep in the throes of cointelpro and they just 455 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,520 Speaker 2: couldn't resist meddling, even when there was no need. A 456 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 2: few months before the election, they sent Rockwell a letter 457 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 2: purporting to be from a Nazi Party member in Dallas 458 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:52,600 Speaker 2: who was concerned about Alan Welch. The letter writer claimed 459 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 2: to be a loyal supporter of Rockwell's and he wanted 460 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,280 Speaker 2: the commander to know that he had a trader in 461 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 2: his inner circle. The letter claimed to have witnessed Alan 462 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 2: Welsh proposition another party member for a gay sex Act. 463 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 2: The FBI actually loved doing this. There are an unsettling 464 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:18,520 Speaker 2: number of co intel operations that are just anonymous letters 465 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:22,799 Speaker 2: accusing people of having gay sex. It's something j Edgar 466 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,280 Speaker 2: Hoover spent a lot of time thinking about. I guess 467 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 2: it's hard to say what the measure of success is 468 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,760 Speaker 2: when it comes to a co intel pro operation. Rockwell 469 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:35,879 Speaker 2: read the letter and did not believe that it was 470 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 2: true that Alan Welch was having gay sex at The 471 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 2: Nazi Party had quarters in Dallas, but he did think 472 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 2: the letter was real. He thought someone in Dallas was 473 00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:50,280 Speaker 2: trying to drive a wedge between him and Alan Welch, 474 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,640 Speaker 2: which is what the FBI was trying to do. But 475 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 2: Rockwell was so sure there was a problem in his 476 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:01,560 Speaker 2: organization that he sent the letter to the FBI to 477 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:08,400 Speaker 2: ask them to investigate it. So it kind of worked. 478 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 2: In the final days of the campaign, the New York 479 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,480 Speaker 2: Times published a story about a former Nazi Party member 480 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:20,400 Speaker 2: who'd been hiding his Jewish heritage. I didn't have time 481 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:24,920 Speaker 2: to scour the co intel profiles to my satisfaction, but 482 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,279 Speaker 2: William Schmaltz wrote in his biography of Rockwell that the 483 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:32,920 Speaker 2: outing of Daniel Burroughs was not a co intel operation. 484 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:38,399 Speaker 2: And maybe that's true, you know, maybe the paperwork had 485 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,440 Speaker 2: a different operational designation on it and it's not in 486 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:46,719 Speaker 2: a co intel profile. But the FBI did it. The 487 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,160 Speaker 2: reporter who wrote that story in The New York Times 488 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:52,680 Speaker 2: later wrote his own book, and he says he was 489 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:56,960 Speaker 2: approached by an FBI agent with information about Daniel Burrows 490 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,320 Speaker 2: just days before the election in Virginia. The FBI wanted 491 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 2: to humiliate and discredit the American Nazi Party by exposing 492 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,239 Speaker 2: one of its earliest members as a self hating Jew. 493 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 2: Daniel Burroughs responded to the story by shooting himself in 494 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 2: the head a few days later. At a press conference 495 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:25,320 Speaker 2: after the election, reporters had more questions about Dan Burross 496 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:26,880 Speaker 2: than Rockwell's campaign. 497 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 4: Burrows killed himself, and there's a chance for a good 498 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:33,200 Speaker 4: smear here, I can share. 499 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,439 Speaker 1: The candidate to get your more of press. 500 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,640 Speaker 4: Dependent Well, if a Nazi has to kill himself and 501 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:40,680 Speaker 4: turn out to be a Jew in order to get publicity, 502 00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:42,239 Speaker 4: things are gotten to be a pretty bad point. 503 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:50,200 Speaker 2: Yet, the campaign had always been a sideshow. There was 504 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,879 Speaker 2: no need to ask the kinds of questions you'd want 505 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:57,719 Speaker 2: answered by a serious candidate running a serious campaign, and 506 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,560 Speaker 2: so at this press conference, instead of having chance to 507 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,440 Speaker 2: reflect on his campaign and project strength and talk about 508 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,440 Speaker 2: next steps, he just had to sit there and pretend 509 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:12,280 Speaker 2: he wasn't shocked and a little sad about the news. 510 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:17,440 Speaker 2: And things just kept getting worse. In early December of 511 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:20,400 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty five, after the excitement of the election was 512 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,800 Speaker 2: long gone, the IRS raided the American Nazi Party's headquarters 513 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:29,120 Speaker 2: in Arlington. Frank Smith had already gone home to Maine 514 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:32,520 Speaker 2: by then. Maybe he had a nose for trouble and 515 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,480 Speaker 2: knew when to get gone, or maybe he'd just had 516 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 2: his fill of life at the Nazi Party barracks. But 517 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:43,480 Speaker 2: Rockwell did see this coming. He knew this was coming. 518 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:46,680 Speaker 2: He'd been having tax issues of his own for years, 519 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,880 Speaker 2: and he'd received a notice of a lean placed on 520 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:54,719 Speaker 2: the party a few months earlier. The entire building and 521 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,440 Speaker 2: its contents were seized, and the men living there full time, 522 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:03,719 Speaker 2: one of whom was John Patler, were evicted. Rockwell did 523 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,760 Speaker 2: manage to arrange to have party member William Luther Pearce 524 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,400 Speaker 2: purchased most of their things back at the IRS auction 525 00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:14,480 Speaker 2: later that month. But all the publicity around the IRS 526 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:20,840 Speaker 2: raid led to a horrible discovery. When newspapers reported that 527 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,680 Speaker 2: IRS agents discovered a woman in the house with all 528 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:45,480 Speaker 2: those Nazis, people were curious and they started digging. Barbara 529 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:50,279 Speaker 2: Vungetz had been Rockwell's personal secretary for years, but she 530 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:54,920 Speaker 2: was more than that. Investigative journalist Jack Anderson published a 531 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,399 Speaker 2: story in January of nineteen sixty six revealing that five 532 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:03,080 Speaker 2: years earlier, eighteen sixty one, Barbara von Getz gave birth 533 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:08,720 Speaker 2: to a baby girl. The story doesn't outright allege anything 534 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,800 Speaker 2: about the child's paternity, but it does seem rather pointed 535 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:15,000 Speaker 2: the way. He notes that the child was given the 536 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:21,240 Speaker 2: last name of von Getz's ex husband, but the IRS 537 00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:25,400 Speaker 2: agents didn't see any children in the house. It was 538 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:32,000 Speaker 2: just Nazi stormtroopers and Barbara Laurie Gizla Mapp was born 539 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:35,640 Speaker 2: in December of nineteen sixty one, and she died ten 540 00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:40,200 Speaker 2: months later in October of nineteen sixty two. The paper 541 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:44,920 Speaker 2: quotes from the coroner's report saying the baby gagged and 542 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:51,920 Speaker 2: choked to death. Anderson suggested that the child possibly fell 543 00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 2: ill due to the poor conditions of the home, and 544 00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:57,759 Speaker 2: maybe he wasn't just being cruel. Maybe he believed that 545 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:05,560 Speaker 2: a copy of Laurie's death certificate. I'm always late delivering 546 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,080 Speaker 2: my episode to the editor because I spent an entire 547 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,200 Speaker 2: day on some horrible little side quest or another sorry rory, 548 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:17,480 Speaker 2: And this week's time wasting side quest was far more 549 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:22,520 Speaker 2: horrible than usual, even by my standards. I spent the 550 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,319 Speaker 2: better part of a day looking at thousands of death 551 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:30,560 Speaker 2: certificates issued for babies under one year old. It took 552 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:35,640 Speaker 2: some time to find Lorie's. She died on October twenty fifth, 553 00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:39,960 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty two, at Falls Church Medical Center. She was 554 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,400 Speaker 2: ten months and eighteen days old, and her cause of 555 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:50,359 Speaker 2: death was listed as unknown natural. The doctors didn't know 556 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,720 Speaker 2: what was wrong with Laurie, and the death certificate lists 557 00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:58,480 Speaker 2: Barbara's x husband as her father. The truth about both 558 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,919 Speaker 2: of those things would come to life a few years later, 559 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:06,960 Speaker 2: when Barbara discovered she was pregnant again in late nineteen 560 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,680 Speaker 2: sixty six. She was afraid to tell George Lincoln Rockwell, 561 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:14,839 Speaker 2: Frank and Claudia Smith spent the month of December down 562 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:18,520 Speaker 2: at the party headquarters. Rockwell was writing his newest book, 563 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:23,400 Speaker 2: White Power, and he needed Claudia to type while he dictated. 564 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:26,600 Speaker 2: It would turn out to be his final work. But 565 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:31,759 Speaker 2: he didn't know that, and when the Smiths left to 566 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:34,399 Speaker 2: go back home to Maine in January of nineteen sixty seven, 567 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:39,080 Speaker 2: Barbara went with them. She stayed with the Smiths at 568 00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:43,240 Speaker 2: their home in Maine for months, concealing the pregnancy from Rockwell. 569 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:46,680 Speaker 2: She didn't really want to raise a baby at the 570 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:51,560 Speaker 2: Nazi barracks, and even more than that, she was terrified 571 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:55,600 Speaker 2: of losing another baby. The doctors had no answers for 572 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,600 Speaker 2: her when Laurie died, So what if the same thing 573 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:01,319 Speaker 2: happened again? If he don't know what it is, how 574 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:06,120 Speaker 2: can you stop him. In her later letters to Rockwall's mother, 575 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,560 Speaker 2: she explained that she hid the pregnancy from him because 576 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:14,319 Speaker 2: she couldn't bear to see him grieve another loss. She 577 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:16,560 Speaker 2: wanted to wait and see if the child was healthy 578 00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:21,920 Speaker 2: before she told him. Barbara von Getz stayed with the 579 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,360 Speaker 2: Smiths for the final months of her pregnancy. When she 580 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:29,000 Speaker 2: gave birth, Frank Smith signed the birth certific as the father, 581 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:36,560 Speaker 2: and Gretchen Virginia Smith was born healthy. In April, when 582 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:39,080 Speaker 2: Gretchen was a month old, Barbara left her in the 583 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,839 Speaker 2: care of a housewife in Maine. I'm not sure why 584 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:45,800 Speaker 2: she didn't leave the baby with Frank and Claudia Smith, 585 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:50,040 Speaker 2: but she didn't. She returned to Virginia, and she waited 586 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:53,800 Speaker 2: another month, and the news from Maine was still good. 587 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:58,839 Speaker 2: Gretchen was healthy. Laurie had already started to get sick 588 00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:02,000 Speaker 2: by this age, and Barbara must have been so relieved 589 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:06,080 Speaker 2: that she had been worried for nothing. So sometime in 590 00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:09,080 Speaker 2: the late spring of nineteen sixty seven, baby Gretchen was 591 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:14,400 Speaker 2: brought to Virginia to live with her parents, her real parents. 592 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:19,719 Speaker 2: When she started having trouble breathing later that summer, doctors 593 00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:24,879 Speaker 2: diagnosed her with Verdnig Hoffmann disease, the infant onset subtype 594 00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:30,000 Speaker 2: of spinal muscular atrophy. The disease was identified in the 595 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:34,560 Speaker 2: medical literature as early as the eighteen nineties, but diagnosis 596 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 2: seemed to have been relatively rare until the nineteen sixties. Today, 597 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:42,360 Speaker 2: it's thought to be the leading genetic cause of infant mortality, 598 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:46,479 Speaker 2: but prior to the advent of genetic testing, the cause 599 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:51,160 Speaker 2: of death was often misunderstood, and very young infants babies 600 00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:56,719 Speaker 2: like Laurie died of respiratory distress or aspiration pneumonia, and 601 00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:01,040 Speaker 2: nobody knew why. I looked through so old newspapers to 602 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:03,240 Speaker 2: try and get an idea of what the general public 603 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:07,080 Speaker 2: understanding of this disease was back then, and I found 604 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:10,160 Speaker 2: a few articles from the early to mid nineteen sixties 605 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:14,480 Speaker 2: about families who were desperate for answers about losing multiple 606 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:19,359 Speaker 2: children to this condition. In nineteen sixty four, a pediatrician 607 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:23,440 Speaker 2: told a newspaper in Arkansas that the disease was not hereditary. 608 00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:27,600 Speaker 2: A doctor with a syndicated advice column told a family 609 00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:31,560 Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty five that the disease does run in families, 610 00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:36,120 Speaker 2: but nobody knows any more than that, and articles throughout 611 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:40,440 Speaker 2: the nineteen sixties often quote doctors saying that Ferdnig Hoffmann 612 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:45,040 Speaker 2: disease is just another name for the condition called amatonia congenita. 613 00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:51,080 Speaker 2: Life was different before Google, I know, so I can't 614 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:55,080 Speaker 2: really blame those doctors with newspaper columns for not being 615 00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:57,280 Speaker 2: all the way up to date with the medical literature. 616 00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 2: But I also looked at some medical journal articles from 617 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:04,920 Speaker 2: the forties fifties and sixties, and it seems like as 618 00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:08,279 Speaker 2: early as the nineteen forties there was a general consensus 619 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:12,120 Speaker 2: that Bairding Hoffman disease in a my atonia congenita were 620 00:45:12,120 --> 00:45:16,279 Speaker 2: two distinct conditions, and it was relatively established fact that 621 00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:21,000 Speaker 2: this was an inherited condition by the fifties. What I'm 622 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,799 Speaker 2: getting at here is that it's not surprising that a 623 00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:29,759 Speaker 2: pediatrician failed to diagnose Bairding Hoffman disease when Laurie got sick. 624 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:34,440 Speaker 2: In nineteen sixty two, an article published in the Miami 625 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:38,000 Speaker 2: Herald right around the same time that Louri died, describes 626 00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:41,200 Speaker 2: a young girl in Florida with the condition, and the 627 00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:45,080 Speaker 2: article claimed that there are only fourteen known cases of 628 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:50,719 Speaker 2: the disease in the United States. With the benefit of 629 00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:55,880 Speaker 2: modern science, we know now that spinal muscular atrophy affects 630 00:45:55,880 --> 00:46:00,279 Speaker 2: about one in ten thousand live births, so it must 631 00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:03,040 Speaker 2: have been one of many babies whose symptoms were a 632 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:07,120 Speaker 2: medical mystery when they just suddenly went limp and had 633 00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:12,360 Speaker 2: trouble breathing. By the mid nineteen sixties, Jerry Lewis was 634 00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:18,080 Speaker 2: hosting the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon on TV. Muscular atrophy and 635 00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:22,800 Speaker 2: muscular dystrophy are separate conditions, but the telethon raised awareness 636 00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:27,920 Speaker 2: about a variety of neuromuscular disorders. The average person was 637 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:31,480 Speaker 2: more likely to know about the existence of neuromuscular disorders, 638 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:36,080 Speaker 2: and more scientific research was being done. Now I know 639 00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:38,560 Speaker 2: there was a lot more going on behind the scenes. 640 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:42,400 Speaker 2: I'm not saying Jerry Lewis's telethon is responsible for advances 641 00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:45,319 Speaker 2: in medical science, but there does seem to have been 642 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:49,920 Speaker 2: a growing public awareness in the nineteen sixties, and it 643 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:52,919 Speaker 2: corresponds with an increase in news stories about children being 644 00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:58,560 Speaker 2: diagnosed and more medical journal articles about these conditions. So 645 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:01,279 Speaker 2: by the time Gretchen got sick in nineteen sixty seven, 646 00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:06,680 Speaker 2: her doctor knew what it was. It was a progressive 647 00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:12,840 Speaker 2: fatal genetic condition that only occurs when both parents carry 648 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:20,160 Speaker 2: the gene. I can't find any mention of Gretchen, not anywhere. 649 00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:25,120 Speaker 2: When Frank and Claudia testified at John Patler's trial, they 650 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:27,759 Speaker 2: were both asked about the nature of their relationship with 651 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:32,840 Speaker 2: George Lincoln Rockwell. Claudia testified about her friendship with Barbara, 652 00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:35,720 Speaker 2: but no one ever mentions that she lived with them 653 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:39,239 Speaker 2: for months just a few months before they were sitting 654 00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:46,000 Speaker 2: on the stand testifying. I spent hours hunting for documentation 655 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,759 Speaker 2: of any kind. A birth certificate in Maine, a death 656 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:53,520 Speaker 2: certificate in Virginia, a tombstone, a mention in the newspaper. 657 00:47:54,800 --> 00:48:00,520 Speaker 2: I couldn't find her. The only place Gretchen Virginia Smith 658 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:05,040 Speaker 2: exists is on a single page of Frederick Simon Elli's 659 00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:09,279 Speaker 2: biography of George Lincoln Rockwell. And the only reason she 660 00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:13,080 Speaker 2: still exists on paper anywhere at all is because Rockwell's 661 00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:16,800 Speaker 2: mother ignored Barbara's request to burn the copy of the 662 00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:23,239 Speaker 2: birth certificate she'd mailed her. She did exist. She died 663 00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:26,920 Speaker 2: on August eighteenth, nineteen sixty seven, after two weeks in 664 00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:33,080 Speaker 2: the hospital. George Lincoln Rockwell buried his infant daughter just 665 00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:37,759 Speaker 2: days before he was murdered, and Frank Smith kept that 666 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:43,040 Speaker 2: secret until his own death in twenty twenty. I spent 667 00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:47,040 Speaker 2: way too long this week reading about mob infemans and 668 00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:51,640 Speaker 2: looking for baby's death certificates. But we have at least 669 00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:54,880 Speaker 2: reached the point in Frank's story where he leaves the 670 00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:59,440 Speaker 2: American Nazi Party behind. By the end of nineteen sixty seven, 671 00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:03,319 Speaker 2: Frank Smith had to find a new direction. George Lincoln 672 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:07,440 Speaker 2: Rockwell was dead, and Raymond Patriarca was under federal indictment. 673 00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:11,800 Speaker 2: All of this really put a damper on Frank's plans 674 00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:14,759 Speaker 2: to unite the Nazi Party on the Mafia behind the 675 00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:18,440 Speaker 2: front of a fake church. But he didn't let the 676 00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:21,960 Speaker 2: dream die. It would just take him a few more 677 00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:27,480 Speaker 2: years to get ordained into the Church of White Supremacy. 678 00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:36,720 Speaker 2: Weird Little Guys is a production of Cool Zone Media 679 00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:41,200 Speaker 2: and iHeartRadio. It's researched, written and recorded by me Willy Kunger. 680 00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:45,560 Speaker 2: Our executive producers are Sophie Lichtermann and Robert Evans. The 681 00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:49,000 Speaker 2: show is edited by the wildly talented Rory Gagan. The 682 00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:52,280 Speaker 2: theme music was composed by Brad Dickert. You can email 683 00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:55,400 Speaker 2: me at Weird Little Guys podcast at gmail dot com. 684 00:49:55,560 --> 00:49:58,680 Speaker 2: I will definitely read it, but I almost certainly will 685 00:49:58,719 --> 00:50:01,799 Speaker 2: not answer it. It's nothing personal. I don't answer any 686 00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:05,040 Speaker 2: of my emails. You can exchange conspiracy theories about the 687 00:50:05,040 --> 00:50:07,800 Speaker 2: show with other listeners on the Weird Little Guys subreddit. 688 00:50:08,640 --> 00:50:10,440 Speaker 2: Just don't post anything that's going to make you one 689 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:19,359 Speaker 2: of my Weird Little Guys