Local fire departments demolished some of the church's former buildings by burning them during training exercises. It has been converted to a park dedicated to peace. Idaho native and millionaire philanthropist Greg Carr purchased the property from the Keenans, donating it to the North Idaho College Foundation. In February 2001, the group's Hayden Lake compound and intellectual property, including the names "Aryan Nations" and "Church of Jesus Christ Christian", were transferred to the Keenans. SPLC loaned the Keenans $95,000 to bid on the 20-acre property. As part of the bankruptcy process, the group's property was put up for auction. The $6.3 million verdict caused Butler to file for bankruptcy one month later. A local attorney from Keenan's legal team said that the large verdict was partly to compensate the Keenans, but largely to punish Butler and his followers, and serve to deter similar conduct in the future. A jury found that Butler and Aryan Nations were grossly negligent in selecting and supervising the guards, and awarded the Keenans $6.3 million. The SPLC filed suit on behalf of the Keenans. Yeager entered an Alford plea for assault and was sentenced to up 2.5 years in prison. Warfield pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to two to five years in prison. Two of the assailants, Aryan Nations security chief Edward Jessie Warfield and guard John Yeager, were prosecuted for the attack. The car crashed and one of the Nations guards held the Keenans at gunpoint, beating them. The guards fired at the car, striking it several times. The woman and her son were driving near the Aryan Nations compound when their car backfired, which the guards claimed to misinterpret as gunfire. The two Native Americans had been beaten with rifles by Aryan Nations security guards in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in July 1998. In September 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) won a $6.3 million judgment against Aryan Nations from an Idaho jury, who awarded punitive and compensatory damages to plaintiffs Victoria Keenan and her son Jason. At the time of Butler's death, Aryan Nations had about 200 actively participating members. Redfeairn died in October 2003, and Butler died of heart failure in September 2004. Butler's 2002 World Congress drew fewer than 100 people, and when he ran for mayor, he lost, garnering only 50 votes against more than 2,100 votes. Redfeairn and August Kreis III, the propaganda minister for Aryan Nations, formed a splinter group, and Butler expelled them from Aryan Nations.Ī few months later, Redfeairn returned to form an alliance with Butler. After this was discovered, Redfeairn was distrusted by some in the group. Redfeairn had brought in Dave Hall, an FBI informant who exposed the group's illegal activities. Following Neuman's death in August 2001, Butler appointed Harold Ray Redfeairn of Ohio to lead Aryan Nations as his successor he had been agitating for control of the organization since the mid-1990s. At the annual Aryan Nations World Congress in 2001, Neuman Britton was appointed to lead Aryan Nations as Butler's successor. By that time, he was over 80 years old and his health was poor. Until 1998, the leadership of Aryan Nations remained firmly in the hands of Richard Girnt Butler. The group hosted an annual World Congress of Aryan Nations at Hayden Lake for Aryan Nations members and members of similar groups. Aryan Nations had a number of state chapters, but it was highly decentralized and the chapters' ties to the organization's headquarters were extremely loose. : 70įrom 1974 until 2001, the Aryan Nations headquarters was located in a 20-acre (8.1 ha) compound 1.8 miles (3 km) north of Hayden, Idaho. In 1957, the name of his church was changed to the Church of Jesus Christ–Christian, a name which continues to be used by Aryan Nations churches. He hosted a daily radio broadcast in California during the 1950s and 1960s. He founded his own church in California in the mid-1940s. Swift combined British Israelism, extreme antisemitism, and political militancy. Swift, a leading figure in the early Christian Identity movement. History Flag commonly used by the Aryan Nations Īryan Nations beliefs are based on the teachings of Wesley A. In 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classified Aryan Nations as a "terrorist threat." In a review of terrorist organizations, the RAND Corporation called it the "first truly nationwide terrorist network" in the United States and Canada. Richard Girnt Butler founded Aryan Nations in the 1970s. Aryan Nations was a North American antisemitic, neo-Nazi and white supremacist hate group that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, about 2 + 3⁄ 4 miles (4.4 km) north of the city of Hayden Lake.
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