.png)
1 year ago
30
A New England neo-Nazi group is being sued over a 'campaign of unlawful conduct' that has 'terrorized' Americans they dub 'enemies of our people'.
The Massachusetts Attorney General has brought a civil lawsuit against NSC-131, known as the Nationalist Social Club, and its leaders, Christopher Hood and Liam McNeil, accusing them of a series of 'violent and otherwise unlawful Club actions'.
The lawsuit is unique in that it points to specific actions allegedly conducted by the group that go beyond their right to free speech - including storming a drag queen story time event and harassing migrants outside emergency shelter hotels.
NSC-131 has around 30 members - thought to all be local white men - and captures its 'violent protests' on video to use as marketing to attract new members, as part of a growing 'international' white supremacist movement.
Self-proclaimed Nazi-hunter, and founder of anti-fascist veterans group, Task Force Butler, Kristofer Goldsmith told DailyMail.com the group is motivated 'by a deep desire to hurt people... it's all about causing fear'.
The NSC-131 promotes its activities widely on social media in an attempt to gain new recruits
Founder of NSC-131 Christopher Hood appearing in court after a protest at a drag queen story time event last summer - he was later found not-guilty when a judge ruled the prosecutor had not provided enough evidence
He said: 'The route into it for so many is they simply just want to hurt people and believing in conspiracy theories about a 'great replacement' for example, is just a convenient excuse to justify their desire to cause harm to people.'
NSC-131 are just one of a growing number of white supremacist groups in the US and beyond - just last month, two neo-Nazi groups organized protests outside a synagogue in Georgia and Disneyland in Florida.
And last year at least 50 different white supremacist groups flooded the country with record amounts of racist propaganda, including fliers, banners, graffiti and laser projections, according to watchdog the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
The new NSC-131 complaint was filed on December 7 at Suffolk County Superior Court and seeks 'injunctive relief' and 'monetary awards' for damages and victims.
It is unclear if Hood, McNeil and the neo-Nazi group have legal representation. DailyMail.com contacted NSC-131 for comment.
The latest lawsuit alleges that between July 2022 and January 2023, the group 'repeatedly targeted' Drag Queen Story Hours, children's events which promote LGBTQ inclusivity, in Massachusetts.
NSC-131 allegedly stormed the events and 'attacked members of the public; engaged in other threatening, intimidating and coercive behavior; and unlawfully interfered with access to event spaces in public libraries'.
Photos from the suit show members attacking two people outside a library in December, shoving one against a wall and stomping on another when they fell to the floor.
When NSC-131 members entered a drag queen story event on January 14, one of them 'raised his hand in the shape of a gun and made a shooting gesture in the direction of parents and the performer'
At another library event in December 2022, NSC-131 members allegedly charged the library and attacked two people blocking the entrance
They allegedly punched one person in the face and stomped on another who fell to the ground
Reports at the time said attendees were left terrified, with one telling the Herald News: 'It was most unsettling thing I’ve seen with my own eyes in a really long time.'
Photos shared by NSC-131 of the 'protests' show around 20 people on the sidewalk dressed in black with masks covering their faces and a banner reading 'drag queens are pedophiles!'
A drag queen that was targeted in Jamaica Plain last year, Patty Bourree, told GBH News after the event: 'There was fear - it was something I felt I needed to discreetly make a retreat from, being the object of their aggression.'
A criminal lawsuit was brought against founder Christopher Hood following an altercation outside a story hour in Jamaica Plain last summer - but he was found not guilty when the judge ruled the prosecution had not provide enough evidence.
Goldsmith says the new lawsuit remedies this, as it links all of the incidents together to provide 'context', showing that the individual events are a 'pattern of activity' from what he calls 'an organized criminal street gang'.
His organization has investigated NSC-131 for years and compiled a 300-page dossier of evidence on their alleged illegal activity.
He said: 'NSC-131 has throughout New England terrorized big cities like Boston and small towns throughout a bunch of different states - so for local law enforcement it feels like a one time incident, they don't have the context.'
But the new lawsuit, filed on December 7, brings all of the incidents together, accusing the defendants of public nuisance, trespassing and civil conspiracy to seek 'injunctive relief, damages, civil penalties, costs and fees.'
In September, uniformed NSC members marched onto hotel property - where migrants were staying in emergency shelter - and lined up in the driveway opposite the main entrance
The Club members allegedly burned flares, displayed a banner that read 'Invaders Go Home,' and shouted slogans such as 'Refugees Go Home'
As well as the story time incidents, the lawsuit alleges that on at least five occasions between October 2022 and October 2023, NSC-131 targeted hotels providing emergency shelter to recently arrived immigrants.
It says the group organized 'violent protests', branding migrants 'invaders' and saying their arrival was part of a 'white replacement' plot.
The complaint reads: 'During the incidents, NSC-131 members trespassed on hotel property and engaged in other unlawful conduct to intimidate and threaten employees and guests and interfere with the operation of the hotels.'
Video from the incident shows the group holding an anti-immigrant banner, lighting flares and chanting xenophobic slurs.
Goldsmith says that NSC-131 is just a 'local manifestation of an international movement across the Western world'.
Since January 6 2021 - when Trump supporters and extremists stormed the Capitol - Goldsmith said larger national groups, like the Proud Boys, have shifted to a 'leaderless local model' which markets itself to local men.
NSC-131 uses its New England roots to attract new members, marketing itself on social media with targeted adverts saying: 'We have an eventful year planned, now is the time to sign up and get active with your local Nationalist Social Club'.
Goldsmith said the group also go in person to Trump rallies to find and draw-in older members.
He said that the pandemic, the rise of Donald Trump and the 'interference of Russia' trying to sow dissent have all 'congealed into a toxic soup' of white supremacism.
He said: 'During the Covid pandemic, people throughout the world found themselves in online spaces and immersed in disinformation and conspiracy theories.'
Photos shared by the group on their Telegram channel show members making a Nazi salute at a 'Members Ceremony'
The group also get together to burn LGBTQ flags and film themselves for promotional content
The membership of NSC-131 is white, young to middle-aged men from the local area and its presence is growing, with some of the photos and videos shared by the group gaining thousands of views.
In response to the lawsuit the group has put a call out for support and donations, telling followers: 'Those in power wish to restrain us with legal persecution, threats, and steep financial penalties.'
They also promise that 'like all of the rest before her, [Attorney General Andrea Campbell] will be beaten and embarrassed in court and in the public forum.'
But nonetheless, Goldsmith is hopeful. He said: 'I believe this lawsuit will be the end of America’s most open and hateful neo-Nazi group in the country.
'It shows we don't have to simply stand in shock and watch as these white supremacists prowl around the streets and act with impunity.'
English (US)