Photo: AFP
Federal officials arrested and charged 16 people of a white supremacist group in Florida.
Prosecutors said that the men engaged in, murder, selling drugs and guns, and kidnapping, and were charged in a 12-count racketeering indictment.
Authorities accused the men of using law enforcement officers and state employees to gather information about people, investigations, and prosecutions, and to smuggle contraband to incarcerated inmates.
The group, called the Unforgiven, were required to study "Aryan Philosophy" and get tattoos, including swastikas, iron crosses, and SS bolts. Potential members had to carry out acts of violence, and the indictment listed several instances in which members assaulted Blacks Lives Matter protesters and other people they viewed a "race traitors."
Several of the suspects are facing decades in prison on charges of Assault in Aid of Racketeering and Kidnapping in Aid of Racketeering, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.