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Secret tapes show neo-Nazi group The Base recruiting former members of the military https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/secret-tapes-show-neo-nazi-group-base-recruiting-former-members-n1243395
Secret recordings of a militant neo-Nazi org The Base reveal that the group is recruiting people with military expertise in the U.S. and Canada to train in military operations and prepare to take advantage of what they believe is impending societal collapse.
The audio recordings are from calls between the leader of The Base Nazzaro who resides in Russia and more than 100 prospective recruits using the encrypted app Wire.
SPLC says that it obtained more than 80 hours of audio recorded starting in November 2018 and that the recordings are featured in a new three-part podcast titled "Baseless" that is being released as part of the SPLC's "Sounds Like Hate" podcast series. https://soundslikehate.org/
a confidential source provided the recordings to SPLC unsolicited, and it confirmed their authenticity with subject matter experts.
The SPLC says the audio does not appear to have been edited.
The SPLC says the audio does not appear to have been edited.
20% of the prospective recruits who were recorded said they were active-duty military or had served in the military in some capacity
NBC News has listened to a significant part of the audio but could not independently verify their identities or their claims.
NBC News has listened to a significant part of the audio but could not independently verify their identities or their claims.
The leader of The Base, Rinaldo Nazzaro, who was born in the U.S., runs his operation out of his apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia, which he discusses in the recordings.
Reports that Nazzaro is based in Russia "raise flags about the potential for foreign influence on these white supremacist organizations operating on American soil."
"They hate Jews and African Americans. Their goal is to use terrorism to start a race war and collapse the US. Triggering societal collapse may be a sick fantasy, but the reality is that domestic terror has claimed more lives than internatl terror since 9/11”
Rep. Jackie Speier
Rep. Jackie Speier
Many of the conversations document recruitment interviews Nazzaro conducted with potential members of the group. The SPLC says it used machine learning to find patterns in what was discussed.
There are recurring themes of violence and munitions, but there are also pervasive undertones of avoiding attention from the media and law enforcement.
According to the SPLC, 80% of the recordings have to do with guns and the collapse of America. The word "targeted" occurs in 45% of the conversations, and the phrase "not doing anything illegal" shows up in 30% of the conversations.
While Nazzaro spoke mostly in positive terms about the camaraderie the group could provide the potential recruits, some of the most hateful language came from the potential recruits themselves, according to the SPLC.
"A lot of our guys, we have just a pure hatred for modern civilization and industrialization," said "the Ecologist," the alias for a 20-year-old potential recruit.
"We wish to liberate ourselves, our fellow whites and animals from that system." When Nazzaro asked how, he answered, "Through economic sabotage such as bombings, arson."
Others bragged about the weapons they own.
Others bragged about the weapons they own.
According to the SPLC, Nazzaro organized The Base "not as a hierarchical membership organization, but as a network of small, underground cells, each with a high degree of autonomy."
Nazzaro said on one of the recordings: "What people decide to do outside The Base with that training and contacts they make is their business. We don't really need to know about it. I mean, sure, it's kind of better that we don't for everyone's sake and for everyone's success."
