News & Politics - Federal Judge's Family Murdered - White Supremacists Groups Scrutinized

ceilirose · 03-02-2005, 04:51 PM

Quote:

White supremacist groups scrutinized
Police say many angles investigated in slayings of judge's family

Wednesday, March 2, 2005 Posted: 5:29 PM EST (2229 GMT)

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- White supremacist Matt Hale, the self-proclaimed "Pontifex Maximus" of the World Church of the Creator, sits in a cell, isolated from other inmates and allowed only rare visits from his parents. But investigators want to know whether his malign influence extended beyond the prison walls.

Police are investigating whether the shooting deaths of a federal judge's husband and mother were carried out by hate groups that were linked to Hale or were sympathetic toward him and thought they were avenging his cause.

But Chicago Chief of Detectives James Molloy cautioned that the possibility of hate-group involvement is one many angles under investigation, adding: "It would be far too early to draw any definitive links."

Hale, 33, is facing up to 40 years in prison at sentencing next month for trying to arrange the murder of the judge, Joan Humphrey Lefkow, who presided over a trademark dispute involving the name of his group. (Full story)

On Monday night, Lefkow came home to find her husband and mother shot to death in the basement.

Hale's call for "racial holy war" was previously linked to a deadly, three-day shooting rampage against minorities by one of his followers in 1999. (Full story)

White supremacist discussion forums on the Internet have been buzzing with news of the slayings this week. Some posted messages exulting over or trying to justify the killings; some complained of a "witch hunt" for white supremacists and a rush to link them to the slayings, while a few other postings offered condolences to the Lefkow family.

In 2002, photos of Lefkow's husband and daughters, as well as excerpts from Michael Lefkow's biography, were posted on the Internet by white nationalists. In one 2003 discussion, white supremacists posted the Lefkows' home address, noting with disbelief that it was on Michael Lefkow's own Web site.

Hale grew up in the blue-collar town of East Peoria, and by his own account, he was immersing himself by age 12 in books about Nazis and formed a "Little Reich" group at school.

He ran the World Church of the Creator from his father's house; an Israeli flag served as a doormat in Hale's office. He drew national attention in the late 1990s when his application for an Illinois law license was denied because of his racist beliefs. (Full story)

He gained wider notoriety in 1999 when a follower, Benjamin Smith, went on a shooting rampage in Illinois and Indiana. Targeting minorities, Smith killed two people, including former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, and wounded nine before killing himself as police closed in.

Hale laughed about the rampage and imitated gunfire in secretly recorded tapes played for the jury at his trial on charges of trying to have the judge killed. The families of several of Smith's victims sued Hale, claiming his racist rhetoric spurred Smith into action. But Hale was never charged in the shootings.

Hale's father, retired East Peoria policeman Russell Hale, said his son could not have been involved in the killings of the judge's family because he is under constant surveillance behind bars.

He maintains that his son was wrongfully convicted and that authorities and the media are "all trying to bury him."

"It's all a big sham and I feel that when his appeals come, and they will some day, this will be overturned," his father said.

Russell Hale pointed out that Lefkow originally ruled in his son's favor in the trademark case. But an appeals court in 2002 ruled that Hale's group had violated an Oregon church's trademark on the name "World Church of the Creator," and Lefkow had to enforce the higher court's decision in forcing Hale to change the group's name.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/02/ju....ap/index.html

This link is rather long but has more information:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7048415/

It's all pretty chilling. The second article states that phone calls were received by the Lefkows on Sunday night with the caller ID indicating that the calls were coming from a correctional facility and the suspect is being held at a Chicago prison.

Lain · 03-02-2005, 10:47 PM

I saw this article in today's newspaper and checked out the 2nd article. Freaky...just freaky.

**sum1** · 03-03-2005, 11:10 AM

Milt Palacio · 03-03-2005, 11:15 AM

I heard that two nights ago and it freaked me out. These poor judges have to live with the threat of retaliation from these criminals, and they have a lot of courage.

**sum1** · 03-03-2005, 11:16 AM

Milt Palacio · 03-03-2005, 11:17 AM

I meant criminals in general, wasn't specifically talking about this case.

MarvelRoswell · 03-03-2005, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milt Palacio

I heard that two nights ago and it freaked me out. These poor judges have to live with the threat of retaliation from these criminals, and they have a lot of courage.

Yeah, and the bad thing is that unless a specific threat is made against the judge, or anyone involved in a case for that matter, the they aren’t given any sort of protection against the criminals. Even after the threat is made they are only protected for a short time. I have heard of cases in the bigger cities where the judges, who have had alot of threats made against them by criminals and those known to have a large group of volatile people behind them, hire their own security for themselves and their families just in case.

ceilirose · 03-03-2005, 01:36 PM

MSNBC reported last night that the calls made to the Lefkow's home on Sunday night were not from the same prison that housed Matthew Hale. They were some sort of a telemarketing call that employed prisoners.

Also The Today Show had a reporter who interviewed Judge Lefkow. She said it was a hard interview for obvious reasons and that the Judge was angry that her family was targeted and considered it a definite hit and not a random burglary.

I've heard conflicting reports as to whether she discontinued the protective custody last year or the US Marshalls ended it on their own.

**sum1** · 03-03-2005, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ceilirose

MSNBC reported last night that the calls made to the Lefkow's home on Sunday night were not from the same prison that housed Matthew Hale. They were some sort of a telemarketing call that employed prisoners.

"Hey, I'm a ***king psycho in jail and I want to sell you an insurance policy.."

JW77 · 03-04-2005, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sum1

"Hey, I'm a ***king psycho in jail and I want to sell you an insurance policy.."

Yeah, well just wait until those jobs get outsourced to prisons in other countries. That'll be interesting.


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