Idiotic Article claims Skinheads represent Domestic Terrorism, and are a worse threat than negro gangs like the Blood and Crips!!!??? This is one of the stupidist, most poorly written articles I have read in a long time. The Deputy Police Chief Stolz of Wichita calls us Domestic Terrorists, yet he favors nego street gangs that deal drugs, kill Police, rape, and murder innocents? Am I missing something or does Mr. Stolz live in the Twilight Zone? Most Police know exactly what the difference is between a Political Party, and criminal gangs. Stolz has obviously lost touch with all reality, and does not represent the Law Abiding Citizens of Wichita.
Posted at: http://www.kansas.com/201/story/124874.html
Ten years ago last month, Wichita police responded to complaints of loud music in the 1200 block of East 55th Street South and found themselves in the middle of an event organizers called the area's first "white power" concert.
Revelers threw beer cans and chanted "Heil Hitler!" and "White Power!" when officers arrived at the scene, according to The Eagle.
"Police said one officer was hurt and two people were arrested as officers tried to disperse 200 people who had gathered Saturday night to listen to bands called 'Aggravated Assault' and 'The River City Brawlers,' " read The Eagle article dated June 3, 1997.
Fast forward to this summer. At a Sunday presentation aimed at educating people about gangs, the Police Department's gang unit included slides of skinheads with assorted Nazi tattoos, along with the tattoos of black, Hispanic and Asian gangs.
"They (skinheads) represent a level of domestic terrorism that our average Crips and Bloods do not," said Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz.
While police confront a deadly surge of street gang violence, one officer also monitors the dark subculture here of white supremacist groups. Stolz said the officer, Jeff Swanson, works for Wichita police but is temporarily assigned to the FBI as a part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
"He has spent a lot of time following and surveilling the Aryans," Stolz said. "His investigations are highly classified."
Wichita police have documented 24 white supremacists locally, and there were 100 to 200 in the region, Stolz said.
Wichita averages 24 homicides a year but has already eclipsed that this year, in part because of the spate of gang violence. White supremacist gangs, though, pose a different threat.
"In my opinion, the Aryans are more dangerous to mass populations and more hateful in their teachings," Stolz said.
There was a cross burning in Derby a few months ago, and some Swastika-spray-painting vandalism as recently as July 4, Stolz said.
"Black and Hispanic gangs are causing a good chunk of our predatory street crime right now," Stolz said. "That's why our victimization numbers of African-Americans and Hispanics is so high. But white gangs present a danger that is real and can lead to the destruction of churches, government buildings, schools, etcetera."
According to the Anti-Defamation League's Web site, Adl.org, only Ohio had more National Socialist Movement units (five) than Kansas (four).
The ADL Web site described NSM as a neo-Nazi group headquartered in Minneapolis but popular across the Midwest. "Many independent skinheads in Minnesota," the site said, "affiliate with the NSM, as do independent skinheads in the Cowley County and Lake Afton areas of Kansas."
The NSM is the country's largest neo-Nazi group, according to the site.
"I would call them your biggest problem," Carla Hill, a Chicago-based investigative researcher for the ADL, said of NSM.
Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research for the ADL in Ohio, said authorities nationwide have uncovered numerous skinhead assassination attempts, bomb plots and huge caches of weapons and ammunition.
"There are definitely neo-Nazi groups there," Pitcavage said of Wichita and south-central Kansas, "but unless you're talking about California, most white supremacists are not formed into street gangs."
But they're every bit as dangerous.
And invisible.
"Many are 'keyboard' or latent, non-active members," Stolz said. "Others are lawyers and doctors. Like any other group, they come in all shapes and sizes."
Reach Mark McCormick at 316-268-6549 or mmccormick@wichitaeagle.com.