Neo-Nazi Threatmaker Accused of Working for FBI
New Jersey radio host is well known as one of the most vicious neo-Nazis in America, a man who routinely suggests killing his enemies.
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Railing against President Bush, he told his audience last June that 鈥渁 well-placed bullet can solve a lot of problems.鈥 He has written that 鈥渨e need to start SHOOTING AND KILLING Mexicans as they cross the border鈥 and argued that killing certain federal judges 鈥渕ay be illegal, but it wouldn鈥檛 be wrong.鈥 In 2006, after he published an attack on New Jersey Supreme Court justices that also included several of their home addresses, state police massively beefed up security for the members of the court, checking on one justice鈥檚 house more than 200 times.
Hal Turner is one serious extremist. He may also be on the FBI payroll.
On Jan. 1, unidentified hackers electronically confronted Turner in the forum of his website for 鈥淭he Hal Turner Show.鈥 After a heated exchange, they told Turner that they had successfully hacked into his E-mails and found correspondence with an FBI agent who is apparently Turner鈥檚 handler. Then they to the agent in which Turner hands over a message from someone who sent in a death threat against Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.). 鈥淥nce again,鈥 Turner writes to his handler, 鈥渕y fierce rhetoric has served to flush out a possible crazy.鈥 In what is allegedly a portion of another E-mail, Turner discusses the money he is paid.
On Thursday, as the E-mail exchange was heatedly discussed on a major neo-Nazi website, Turner suddenly announced he was quitting political work. 鈥淚 hereby separate from the 鈥榩ro-White鈥 movement,鈥 he said, adding that he was ending his radio show immediately. 鈥淚 will no longer involve myself in any aspect of it.鈥
The FBI declined comment. 鈥淟ongstanding FBI policy prohibits disclosing who may or may not provide information,鈥 Agent Richard Kolko of the agency鈥檚 press unit said. Reached in New Jersey, Turner also declined all comment.
The apparent revelation set off a torrent of criticism from experts in criminology and the use of informants. 鈥淭his is clearly over the line,鈥 said James Nolan, an associate sociology professor at West Virginia University who is an expert in police procedure and a former unit chief in the FBI鈥檚 Crime Analysis, Research and Development Unit. 鈥淚nformants may be involved in drugs, and you overlook that because of the greater good. However, these are viable threats 鈥 they could be carried out 鈥 that the FBI clearly knows about. I want to see the FBI stop it.鈥
Informants, of course, are commonly used by law enforcement agencies that have no other way of proving suspected criminal activity. 鈥淭hese are frightening groups whose members deserve to be investigated and infiltrated,鈥 said Jack Levin, a criminology professor and expert on the radical right at Northeastern University. 鈥淢y concern is that Turner鈥檚 methods actually are more dangerous and destructive than the evil they are seeking to cure. His threatening messages may actually inspire neo-Nazis to up the ante, to engage in even more destructive behavior.鈥
Turner, 45, has developed a reputation as one of the hardest-line racists on the radical right since starting up his radio show seven years ago. He has routinely ranted about such things as a 鈥淧ortable N----- Lyncher鈥 machine and slimed those he hates as 鈥渟avage Negro beasts,鈥 鈥渂ull-dyke lesbians,鈥 鈥渇------鈥 and worse.
But it is his threats that are legendary.
In 2006, Turner told his audience to 鈥渃lean your guns, have plenty of ammunition 鈥 [and] then do what has to be done鈥 to undocumented workers. Around the same time, he suggested that half the U.S. Congress 鈥渕ay have to be assassinated.鈥 A year earlier, he suggested 鈥渄rawing up lists of yeshivas,鈥 or Jewish religious schools. He once started a website called for the purpose of posting photos and names of those who marched in favor of immigrant rights. Hearing that anti-racist activist Floyd Cochran was visiting Newark, N.J., last June, Turner said he had 鈥渁rranged for a group of guys to physically intercept鈥 Cochran and added that Cochran would likely 鈥済et such a beating that his next stop is going to be University Hospital.鈥 In a July letter, Turner wrote to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which publishes the Intelligence Report: 鈥淚f you do not change your stance soon, you will face a wrath of fury that you will never be able to defend yourself against. We have the ability to reach out and touch someone.鈥
Last July, Turner posted photographs of a pro-immigrant activist being taken away by an ambulance outside Turner鈥檚 North Bergen home. 鈥淐lick the images below to see how I kicked the shit out of one such douchebag,鈥 he wrote.
Reaction on the radical right to the apparent revelation was mixed, as activists tried to figure out if Turner really was an informant. But to many, there was little question it was Turner, based on the style of writing in the E-mails. 鈥淚t does sound like Hal,鈥 wrote 鈥淰arg鈥 on the Vanguard News Network, a neo-Nazi website. 鈥淚 agree,鈥 responded 鈥淵ankee Jim.鈥 鈥淭he Email definitely sounds like Hal.鈥
Turner鈥檚 alleged E-mail to his FBI handler is also addressed to a detective sergeant with the New Jersey State Police who trained with the FBI Police Executive Fellowship Program in 2004. Interestingly, as long ago as May 2006, Turner wrote of a visit paid to him by the two men, saying they had come to his house to warn him that 鈥淲ashington has instructed us to close you down.鈥 In that same posting on his website, Turner described himself as the type to inspire 鈥渁 whole slew of potential Timothy McVeighs. I don鈥檛 make bombs,鈥 he added, 鈥淚 make bombers.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 become so routine,鈥 Turner said of FBI visits in a 2005 interview with The (Hackensack, N.J.) Record, 鈥渢hey are like my private FBI agents.鈥
