Weird Little Guys

Last week, we looked at the nazi newletters serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin was probably reading in the leadup to his killing spree. But there is one thing we know for certain he was reading: Hustler. Sources: Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011 Jonathan Golomb, Regulation of Indecency in Political Broadcasting,...

In 1977, Joseph Paul Franklin started his three year killing spree, but he wasn't the only neo-nazi who murdered for the movement that summer. Sources: Sunshine, Spencer. (2024). Neo-Nazi terrorism and countercultural fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege. Taylor & Francis. Pierce, Kelvin. Sins of My Father, Growing Up with America's Most Dangerous White Supremacist....

Molly interviews Christopher Mathias about his new book, To Catch a Fascist: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right . It's a rollicking tale of infiltrating nazi groups and exposing their private communications to dox them en masse.  Preorder Chris' book:  https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/To-Catch-a-Fascist/Christopher-Mathias/9781668034767   The article Chris mentioned about S...

Part One:  Frank Abbott Sweeney Jr may be the Forrest Gump of American white supremacy in the 20th century. Starting with a failed bank robbery for the American Nazi Party in the 60s, Frank stumbled his way into being an inconsequential side character in major historical events for decades. Original Air Date: 8.28.24 Part Two:  In part two of the life of the Forrest Gump of fascism, Fran...

Years before he set off on his three year killing spree, Joseph Paul Franklin left his home in Alabama to attend a nazi conference in Virginia.  Sources: Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011 Belew, Kathleen. Bring the War Home : The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Harvard University Press, 2018....

In 1965, a car full of klansmen shot and killed Viola Liuzzo, a white woman from Detroit who volunteered to drive civil rights activists back to Selma after the march to Montgomery. The FBI immediately kicked into overdrive to drag her name through the mud. Sources: Stanton, Mary. From Selma to Sorrow: The Life and Death of Viola Liuzzo. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1998 Mendelsohn, Jack....

When the man responsible for bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City was arrested, he was carrying a page of his favorite book. The book had been sold at gun shows and in ads in nazi newsletters for years, but suddenly the rest of the country was asking... can a book kill? Sources: Berger, J.M. "The Turner Legacy: The Storied Origins and Enduring Impact of White Nationalism’s Deadly Bibl...

Parts 7 & 8 of the South Africa arc. Blood River Original Air Date: 4.17.25 In 2002, a terrorist group failed to assassinate Nelson Mandela. In 2012, a plot to assassinate Jacob Zuma was foiled. Both plots were attempts to fulfill a prophecy and renew a bloody covenant with God. Sources: Thompson, Leonard L. The Political Mythology of Apartheid. Yale University Press, 1986.  FA Mouton (19...

Parts 5 & 6 of the South Africa arc. The Whites' Last Stand Original Air Date: 4.3.25 In the final days of apartheid, white extremists were getting desperate. That desperation contributed to one of the strangest political crises of the late 20th century.  Sources: https://dcist.com/story/12/09/24/aryan-nations/ https://archive.idavox.com/index.php/2012/09/24/the-aryan-nations-show-of-farc...

Parts 3 & 4 of the South Africa arc. The White Wolf Original Air Date: 3.2.25 In 1989, four Afrikaner nationalists and one German mercenary killed a security guard at a United Nations outpost in Namibia. After escaping from custody, they fled home to South Africa.  A possibly non-existent group called The White Wolves took credit for the wave of bombings that followed. Sources: Du Preez,...

For the end of the year reruns, Weird Little Guys is revisiting the longest, strangest story of 2025 - the South Africa arc. Those eight episodes tell the strange story of how one little skinhead rally in California in 2012 connects to a vast international conspiracy to stop the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994. ---- The White House Weighs in on White Genocide Original Air Date: 2.27.25 In Febru...

In this minisode, Molly highlights a couple of listener answers to questions raised on the show. Most importantly, we finally find out what Dan Burros was watching on TV on November 10, 1962. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Augustus Invictus has finally been suspended by the Florida Bar for his felony conviction for participating in a nazi torch march in 2017. But when will he actually serve his jail sentence? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2017, Tyler Dykes marched in Charlottesville. In 2021, he breached the capitol. In 2026, he hopes to win a congressional election. Sources: https://www.postandcourier.com/beaufort-county/politics/tyler-dykes-campaign-sc1-congress/article_c255115c-45cf-430e-b4a4-160a322631e1.html https://www.thenation.com/article/society/givesendgo-crowdfunding-extremism/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/676...

This episode originally ran on October 17, 2024. There is a brief new introduction, but it's back at the top of your feed for listeners who didn't catch it the first time around. Today's regular episode picks up where this one left off. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-supporters-who-stormed-us-capitol-begin-leave-prison-following-sweeping-2025-01-21/ https://www.npr.org/2021/02/09/...

Molly answers your weird little questions and shares her personal conspiracy theory about who tried and failed to assassinate a nazi in 1967. Sources: Donald Horton and Richard Wohl, 'Mass Communication and Parasocial Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance', Psychiatry 19: 215-29, 1956 https://www.participations.org/03-01-04-horton.pdf Nadora, Mikhaela, "Parasocial Relationships with...

In 2017, a man showed up at the emergency room and confessed that he'd accidentally poisoned himself with homemade ricin. He was federally charged with possessing a biological agent, but his case was dismissed on almost unbelievable technicality. But he's not the only man who thinks he can create the perfect weapon from nothing but a handful of beans. Original Air Date: 7.31.25 Sources: https://ww...

This episode originally ran on January 23, 2025. The second half of the story had to be taken down a few weeks later. That episode has now been rewritten and re-recorded. Before you listen to the newly released version of the lost episode, here's the original part one to refresh your memory. ------ In 2010, a rising star in the small world of holocaust denial blogging murdered his ex-wife and then...

In 2007, a white nationalist known for his addiction to causing drama claimed he saw Ron Paul at a nazi supper club. Ron Paul supporters, including those on nazi message boards, pushed back. The feud that ensued led to Curtis Maynard's fall from grace as a holocaust denial blogger - he'd been keeping a secret from his readers. Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disown...

In 2017, an anti-Muslim nonprofit crowd-sourced the organization of a nationwide series of rallies. Many of the people who stepped up to help turned out to be well known white supremacists. Original Air Date: 2.13.25 Sources: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2017/05/portland_suspect_in_2_slayings.html https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/27/portland-double-murder-white-supremacist-musli...

In the final chapter of his life, Frank Smith really did start the whites only church he first proposed to George Lincoln Rockwell. Sources: https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/christian-identitys-new-role-extreme-right https://gnet-research.org/2023/05/10/the-revitalisation-of-christian-identity-content-on-youtube-twitter-and-tiktok/ https://w...

In 1965, Frank Smith was laying low in Maine after a failed mob hit nearly killed him. He reappeared a few months later in Virginia, acting as a body guard for his new best friend, the commander of the American Nazi Party. Sources: Schmaltz, William H. (2013). For Race And Nation: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party. River's Bend Press Simonelli, Frederick J. (1999). American Fuehr...

George Lincoln Rockwell was a nazi. Norman Rockwell was a painter. They didn't have much in common at all, but people can't seem to stop mixing them up. Sources: https://library.washu.edu/news/norman-rockwell-and-race-complicating-rockwells-legacy/ https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal66-1301767 https://www.nytimes.com/1966/10/06/archives/us-aide-attacks-bill-to-curb-riots-doa...

When Frank Smith got out of prison in 1964, he went right back to working for the New England mafia. He also joined the American Nazi Party. And he had a dream that the two organizations could work together. Sources: https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-boston-irish-gang-wars-terrify-a-city/ https://www.nytimes.com/1965/11/04/archives/the-boston-gang-war-a-deadly-web-of-revenge.html https:/...

Before he joined the American Nazi Party in 1965, Frank Smith was already a career criminal working for the New England mafia. Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/1952/05/06/archives/friend-of-sutton-seized-as-suspect-in-schuster-death-armed-burglar.html https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/news/legacy-of-the-commander/article_c5ebf480-2fef-536c-aee8-11a2925441a0.html Simonelli, Frederick J. (1999). Ame...