In Bad Company: America’s Terrorist Underground

370 Pages·2001·307.89 MB·English

by  Mark Hamm

COMPANY
A M E R I C A S T E R R O R I S T U N D E R G R O U N D
Mark S Hamm
.
IN TT COMPANY
AMERICAS TERRORIST UNDERGROUND
The dramatic sieges at Randy Weaverscabinin
Ruby Ridge, Idaho,and the BranchDavidian
compound in Waco,Texas,combined withtheFBIs
reluctance to admit wrongdoing in thosetragic
confrontations,fueleda virulent hatredof the federal
government that unified previously isolated voices
within the extremeradical right movement.As a
result,the scores of clandestine paramilitary cells
that flourished in the aftermath of Ruby Ridge and
Waco formed aloosely knit undergroundnetwork
witha shared goal to violently overthrow theU.S.
.
government
This gripping volume examines thoroughly oneof the
most dangerous of thosephantomcells-the Aryan
Republican Army (ARA).Usingtrialtranscripts,
interviews,asecret diary,newspaper accounts,and
ethnographic research,MarkS.Hammprovidesa
compelling history of the ARA,itsorganizers,and
therevolutionary group’s significanceinsupporting
acts of domestic terrorism,includingitspreviously
unrecognized role inTimothy McVeigh’sdevastating
bombing of the AlfredP.Murrah FederalBuildingin
OklahomaCity.He interweaveshis narrative witha
penetrating discussion of why people likeMcVeigh
and the ARA members embrace the violent neo-Nazi
subculture and why their hatredtakesthe formof
terrorist activities.
Hamm centers hisrivetingaccount of the ARA on
the troubledlife histories of foundersPeterKevin
(continued on back flap)
CURRENT EVENTS/CRIMINAL JUSTICE
P r a i s e f o r
IN COMPANY
AMERICA S TERRORIST UNDERGROUND
With the roots and trappings of terrorism at the forefront of national
consciousness, Hamms study of domestic terrorism is especially
timely. Hamm offers a detailed look at the Aryan Republican Army
(ARA), a radical right cell that he suspects actively assisted Timothy
McVeigh.... Hamms compelling perspective ... will interest readers
seeking more information about this violent subculture.
[The author] presents a credible picture of a terrifying right wing
blossoming under the right circumstances, particularly when the FBI
and ATF wax into their periodic modes of militarized masculinity.
Indeed, there’s no reason to think that the mare’s nest of associations
between groups of the violent right is anything but humming along,
which is enough to run a shiver of dread right up the spine.
Hamm explores the milieu of the Aryan Republican Army, whose
six members rode hell-for-leather through the...peculiar world of the
radical right’ in the 1990s, robbing banks and otherwise expressing
their righteous hatred’ and often racist political goals. It isnt a pretty
story, nor is everything in it what you might expect.... With more
oblique twists and turns than fiction could sustain, Hamm’s explo
ration of the underground that nurtured the likes of Tim McVeigh
reminds us that, Osama bin Laden notwithstanding, homegrown
kooks remain a threat.
iooklist SBN1-55553-492-9
90000
Northeastern University Press
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
www.nupress.neu.edu 55
McGregor Langanand Richard WildBill Guthrie,
as wellas onprofiles of the foot soldiers in the
movement.He explores the similar social,cultural,
andpersonal forces that attractedthese men to the
WhiteSupremacy movement and ChristianIdentity,a
theology that gives theblessing of God to theracist
cause,andthat drove them onacriminal path to
terrorism.Drawing historical parallels withthe
motivesand tactics of JesseJames and his gangs
crimespree,Hamm focuses on how Langan andhis
paramilitary gang committedastring of armed bank
robberiesto finance the overthrow of the federal
government through such terrorist attacks as train
derailments,assassinations,and bombings.
Hammconcludes this absorbingyet disconcerting
journeythrough Americasunderground terrorist
conspiracy by challenging the government's assertion
that Timothy McVeighactedas alone wolf inthe
OklahomaCity bombing.Instead,he offers startling
newevidencethat connects McVeighto the Aryan
Republican Army.
.
MARK S HAMM is Professor of Criminology at
IndianaState University.Heisthe author of American
Skinheads: The Criminology and Control of Hate
Crime, The Abandoned Ones: The Imprisonment
and Uprising of the Mariel Boat People, and
Apocalypse in Oklahoma: Waco and Ruby Ridge
Revenged.Heisthe coeditor of Ethnography on the
Edge:Crime, Deviance,and Field Research.
Jacket design by Peter M. Blaiwas
Photocourtesy of VCG/FPG InternationalLLC
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BAD
OMPANY
AdvisorinCriminalJusticeto Northeastern UniversityPress
GilGeis
BAD
OMPANY
AMERICASTERRORIST UNDERGROUND
Mark S. Hamm
NortheasternUniversity Press
Boston
NortheasternUniversityPress
Copyright©2002byMarkS.Hamm
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforthequotationof shortpassagesforthe
purposesof criticismandreview,nopartof thisbookmaybereproducedin
anyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying,
recording,oranyinformationstorageandretrievalsystemnowknownor
tobeinvented,withoutwrittenpermissionof thepublisher.
Libraryof CongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Hamm,MarkS.
Inbadcompany:Americasterroristunderground / MarkS.Hamm,
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN1-55553-492-9(cloth:alk.paper)
1.AryanRepublicanArmy.2.Terrorism UnitedStates.3.OklahomaCityFederal
BuildingBombing,OklahomaCity.Okla.,1995.1.Tide.
HV6432.5.A79H362001
322.4'2'o973 dc2i 2001030904
DesignedbyStephanieDoyle
ComposedinDantebyCoghillCompositionCompanyinRichmond,Virginia.
PrintedandboundbyThomson-Shore,Inc.,inDexter,Michigan.Thepaperis
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