The Order (group)
Encyclopedia
The Order, also known as the Brüder Schweigen (German for Brothers Keep Silent) or Silent Brotherhood, was an organization active in the United States
between 1983 and 1984. The Order, a white nationalist
revolutionary
group, is probably best known for the 1984 murder of radio talk show host Alan Berg
.
in late September 1983 at Mathews' farm near Metaline Falls, Washington
. Matthews was baptized into the Mormon
faith as a high schooler. He formed the "Sons of Liberty", an anti-communist
militia mostly made up of Mormon survivalists
. A fundamental goal of The Order was revolution against the American government, which its members, and those of other white supremacist groups, believed to be controlled by a cabal of prominent Jews. The Order was named after, and partly modeled on, a fictional group in William Luther Pierce
's novel The Turner Diaries
. The Order's goals included the establishment of a homeland (now the Northwest Territorial Imperative
) from which Jews and non-white
s would be barred. They often referred to the United States federal government
as ZOG, an acronym for Zionist Occupied Government. Members of the Order included Randy Evans, Gary Yarborough, Bruce Pierce, Denver Parmenter, Frank Silva, Richard Scutari, David Lane, Randy Duey, and David Tate.
The Order raised money through violent crime. First the robbery of a sex shop
, which netted them less than USD $400. Their later attacks were more effective, including several lucrative bank robberies
, as well as bombings of a theater and a synagogue
. The Order ran a large counterfeiting operation, and executed a series of armored car robberies, including one near Ukiah
, California
that netted $3.8 million.
The Order drew up a hit list of enemies, and on June 18, 1984 radio talk show host Alan Berg
was murdered in front of his home by Bruce Pierce, assisted by other members of The Order. Berg was number two on The Order's list. Berg's murder and the subsequent trial formed the basis of Steven Dietz
's 1988 play God's Country, and also loosely inspired Eric Bogosian
's play Talk Radio
(later adapted into a film
by Oliver Stone
) and the film Betrayed
. A fictional version of the story was also the subject of the movie Brotherhood of Murder.
In December 1984, authorities were able to track Mathews down to a house on Whidbey Island
where he refused to surrender. During a shootout, the house was ignited by incendiary flares, became engulfed in flames and Mathews was killed. Mathews is highly esteemed by some white nationalists.
(RICO) statutes. In a separate trial, three other members of The Order were tried and convicted of violating the civil rights
of Alan Berg
. No one has been charged in the murder of Berg. David Lane, the getaway driver for Berg's assailants, was sentenced to 190 consecutive years on the charges of racketeering, conspiracy
, and violating Berg's civil rights. He died in prison in 2007. Lane is regarded by many white supremacists
as a hero, political prisoner and martyr. Order member Bruce Pierce was sentenced to 252 years in prison for his involvement in the Berg assassination, and died of natural causes at the Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex on August 16, 2010. He was 56. In another trial, 14 men were charged with sedition
, conspiracy and civil rights violations. Thirteen of them were acquitted, and the judge dismissed the charges against the fourteenth man for lack of evidence. Over 75 men and women were tried and convicted of various charges connected to The Order.
A 2011 NPR
report claimed some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit
. Richard Scutari, member of the Order, was sentenced to a 60 year prison term in 1985, being removed to USP Marion CMU in July of 2008.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
between 1983 and 1984. The Order, a white nationalist
White nationalism
White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people. White separatism and white supremacism are subgroups within white nationalism. The former seek a separate white nation state, while the latter add ideas from social Darwinism and...
revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
group, is probably best known for the 1984 murder of radio talk show host Alan Berg
Alan Berg
Alan Berg was a Jewish American attorney and Denver, Colorado talk radio show host. Berg was notable for his largely liberal, outspoken viewpoints and confrontational interview style....
.
History
The Order was founded by Robert Jay MathewsRobert Jay Mathews
Robert Jay Mathews was the leader of an American white nationalist group The Order.Mathews was burned to death during the intense gunfight with approximately seventy-five of the federal law enforcement agents who surrounded his house on Whidbey Island, near Freeland, Washington.Mathews' life was...
in late September 1983 at Mathews' farm near Metaline Falls, Washington
Metaline Falls, Washington
Metaline Falls is a town in Pend Oreille County, Washington, United States. The population was 238 at the 2010 census.-History:Metaline Falls was discovered by natives 12,000 years ago. Eventually by fur traders came in 1810. The town was founded in 1900, with most of its residents then employed...
. Matthews was baptized into the Mormon
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
faith as a high schooler. He formed the "Sons of Liberty", an anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
militia mostly made up of Mormon survivalists
Survivalism
Survivalism is a movement of individuals or groups who are actively preparing for future possible disruptions in local, regional, national, or international social or political order...
. A fundamental goal of The Order was revolution against the American government, which its members, and those of other white supremacist groups, believed to be controlled by a cabal of prominent Jews. The Order was named after, and partly modeled on, a fictional group in William Luther Pierce
William Luther Pierce
William Luther Pierce III was the leader of the white separatist National Alliance organization, and one of the most important ideologists of the white nationalist movement. Pierce originally worked as an assistant professor of physics at Oregon State University, before he became involved in...
's novel The Turner Diaries
The Turner Diaries
The Turner Diaries is a novel written in 1978 by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald"...
. The Order's goals included the establishment of a homeland (now the Northwest Territorial Imperative
Northwest Territorial Imperative
The Northwest Territorial Imperative is an idea popularized since the 1980s within white nationalist and white separatist groups in the United States. According to it, adherents of these groups are encouraged to relocate to a five-state region of the Northwestern United States — viz., Washington,...
) from which Jews and non-white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
s would be barred. They often referred to the United States federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
as ZOG, an acronym for Zionist Occupied Government. Members of the Order included Randy Evans, Gary Yarborough, Bruce Pierce, Denver Parmenter, Frank Silva, Richard Scutari, David Lane, Randy Duey, and David Tate.
The Order raised money through violent crime. First the robbery of a sex shop
Sex shop
A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...
, which netted them less than USD $400. Their later attacks were more effective, including several lucrative bank robberies
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
, as well as bombings of a theater and a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
. The Order ran a large counterfeiting operation, and executed a series of armored car robberies, including one near Ukiah
Ukiah, California
The average high temperature is 73.5 °F . Average low temperature is 46.1 °F . Temperatures reach 90 °F on an average of 65.6 days annually and 100 °F on an average of 14.4 days annually. Due to frequent low humidity, summer temperatures normally drop into the fifties at night. Freezing...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
that netted $3.8 million.
The Order drew up a hit list of enemies, and on June 18, 1984 radio talk show host Alan Berg
Alan Berg
Alan Berg was a Jewish American attorney and Denver, Colorado talk radio show host. Berg was notable for his largely liberal, outspoken viewpoints and confrontational interview style....
was murdered in front of his home by Bruce Pierce, assisted by other members of The Order. Berg was number two on The Order's list. Berg's murder and the subsequent trial formed the basis of Steven Dietz
Steven Dietz
Steven Dietz is an American playwright whose work is largely performed regionally, i.e. outside of New York City...
's 1988 play God's Country, and also loosely inspired Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
's play Talk Radio
Talk Radio (play)
Talk Radio is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play written by Eric Bogosian, based on a concept by Bogosian and Tad Savinar. It centers around Barry Champlain, a Cleveland-area shock jock, on the eve of his radio show's national syndication....
(later adapted into a film
Talk Radio (film)
Talk Radio is a 1988 American drama film, starring Eric Bogosian, Ellen Greene and Leslie Hope. Directed by Oliver Stone, the film was based on the play by Eric Bogosian and Tad Savinar. Portions of the film and play were based on the assassination of radio host Alan Berg in 1984...
by Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
) and the film Betrayed
Betrayed (1988 film)
Betrayed is a 1988 motion picture drama directed by Costa-Gavras, written by Joe Eszterhas and starring Tom Berenger and Debra Winger.-Plot:Set in the American Midwest, the film begins with the murder of a Jewish radio host in Chicago...
. A fictional version of the story was also the subject of the movie Brotherhood of Murder.
In December 1984, authorities were able to track Mathews down to a house on Whidbey Island
Whidbey Island
Whidbey Island is one of nine islands located in Island County, Washington, in the United States. Whidbey is located about north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington...
where he refused to surrender. During a shootout, the house was ignited by incendiary flares, became engulfed in flames and Mathews was killed. Mathews is highly esteemed by some white nationalists.
Convictions
Ten members of The Order were tried and convicted under Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ActRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO) statutes. In a separate trial, three other members of The Order were tried and convicted of violating the civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
of Alan Berg
Alan Berg
Alan Berg was a Jewish American attorney and Denver, Colorado talk radio show host. Berg was notable for his largely liberal, outspoken viewpoints and confrontational interview style....
. No one has been charged in the murder of Berg. David Lane, the getaway driver for Berg's assailants, was sentenced to 190 consecutive years on the charges of racketeering, conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
, and violating Berg's civil rights. He died in prison in 2007. Lane is regarded by many white supremacists
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
as a hero, political prisoner and martyr. Order member Bruce Pierce was sentenced to 252 years in prison for his involvement in the Berg assassination, and died of natural causes at the Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex on August 16, 2010. He was 56. In another trial, 14 men were charged with sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
, conspiracy and civil rights violations. Thirteen of them were acquitted, and the judge dismissed the charges against the fourteenth man for lack of evidence. Over 75 men and women were tried and convicted of various charges connected to The Order.
A 2011 NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
report claimed some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit
Communication Management Unit
Communication Management Unit is a recent designation for a self-contained group within a facility in the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons that severely restricts, manages and monitors all outside communication of inmates in the unit.-Origins:As part of the Bush Administration's War on...
. Richard Scutari, member of the Order, was sentenced to a 60 year prison term in 1985, being removed to USP Marion CMU in July of 2008.
Further reading
- Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt. The Silent Brotherhood, Signet 1990, ISBN 978-0451167866.
- Thomas Martinez and John Guinther. The Brotherhood of Murder, iUniverse 1999, ISBN 978-1583485804.
- Morris DeesMorris DeesMorris Seligman Dees, Jr. is the co-founder and chief trial counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center , and a former direct mail marketeer for book publishing. Along with his law partner, Joseph J...
. Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat. Harper Perennial (April 23, 1997) ISBN 0060927895 - Magnus Söderman and Henrik Holappa. Unbroken Warrior - The Richard Scutari Letters, Nationellt Motstånd Förlag 2011, ISBN 978-91-85737-04-8