White supremacists killed Alaska man to impress ‘their vile and racist gang,’ feds say
Members of a “vile and racist” white supremacist gang based in Alaska prisons have been charged in the killing of a man reported missing in 2017, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A grand jury has charged six accused gang members with murder, assault, kidnapping and conspiracy in aid of racketeering in the August 2017 kidnapping and murder of Michael Staton, who was known as “Steak Knife,” U.S. Attorney for Alaska Bryan Schroder said. Those charged include Filthy Fuhrer, 42; Roy Naughton, 40; Glen Baldwin, 37; Craig King, 53; Beau Cook, 32; and Colter O’Dell, 26.
Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said in a statement that the murder was committed “with the goal of impressing their vile and racist gang.”
More than a dozen other members of the white supremacist 1488s have also been arrested on charges of dealing narcotics, trafficking firearms and more, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said two key members of the gang, 29-year-old Nicholas M. Kozorra and 34-year-old Dustin J. Clowers, have already pleaded guilty to murder in aid of racketeering.
Formed in the state’s prison system around 2010, the 1488s are a 50- to 100-member “whites only” gang operating both in and out of prisons in Alaska and beyond, according to the recently unsealed indictment. Members must “be white, look white and act white,” the indictment said, and the gang offers “protection to white inmates if they joined the gang.”
The 1488s use Nazi symbols in tattoos to identify each other and their link to the organization. But only “made” members of the gang — those who have achieved full membership by perpetrating violence for the gang — can get its most coveted tattoo: A 1488s “patch” that consists of an iron cross on top of a swastika, according to federal prosecutors.
The indictment specifically said the 2017 kidnapping and murder was committed “for the purpose of gaining entrance to and maintaining and increasing position in the 1488s.”
Prosecutors said the gang has a detailed, uniform structure governed by rules that are known to all members. Leaders within the gang include “key holders,” who are in charge of gang matters within penal facilities and in the “free world,” as well as “enforcers” whose job it is to keep other gang members in check and do the bidding of higher-ranking members.
The indictment suggests the gang has connections to Arizona and Colorado as well.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the symbol 1488 is actually a “combination of two popular white supremacist numeric symbols” — the first being 14, which refers to a 14-word white supremacist slogan, and the second being 88, which alludes to “Heil Hitler,” as H is the eighth letter in the alphabet.
This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 8:07 PM with the headline "White supremacists killed Alaska man to impress ‘their vile and racist gang,’ feds say."