State sues Nazis for being violent goons across eastern Massachusetts

The state Attorney General's office today sued the state's home-grown Nazi group and two of its leaders on civil-rights and conspiracy charges for using violence and intimidation against drag-queen story hours, immigrants and just random people over the past couple of years, including in Jamaica Plain, the Seaport and on a pedestrian bridge over Storrow Drive.

In the suit, filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, the state says it's suing the Nationalist Social Club and leaders Christopher Hood of Newburyport and Liam McNeil of Waltham for "their escalating violations of the state’s civil rights laws, and the disruptions to public peace and safety caused by their unlawful conduct" that also includes "patrols" of MBTA trains and random neighborhoods.

The lawsuit seeks a court order barring the Nazis from continuing to act like Nazis, specifically by barring them from continuing to be a "public nuisance" and from trespassing on both public and private property, along with sufficient monetary damages to make them think twice about acting out on their racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic impulses.

Defendants have recently and repeatedly engaged in violent, threatening, intimidating, and coercive conduct that has interfered with the exercise of rights secured by state and federal law; unlawfully obstructed access to public accommodations, including libraries and hotels; and damaged, defaced, and unlawfully intruded upon property throughout Massachusetts.

Since 2020, Defendants have engaged in an escalating campaign of unlawful conduct as they have attempted to "shut down" groups and activities that they deem harmful to the interests of white New Englanders.

Defendants have recently carried out a series of violent and otherwise unlawful Club actions targeting those they have designated "enemies of our people.

Among these Club actions, Defendants have repeatedly attempted to disrupt public events organized by LGBTQ+ groups, and interfere with the provision of emergency shelter to recent immigrants at local hotels through the Commonwealth's Emergency Housing Assistance program.

Defendants have also periodically carried out vigilante "patrols" in cities and towns across the Commonwealth.

During these patrols, NSC members – some carrying dangerous weapons – have hunted for "anti-White" activity in residential neighborhoods, and trespassed upon and "tagged" public and private property to claim territory for the Club.

Defendants' conduct during these targeted actions, patrols, and other Club activities has repeatedly and substantially interfered with the public peace, safety, comfort, and convenience.

The complaint cites numerous examples of public Nazi violence and threats by the roughly 30-member group, including a failed attempt to stop a drag-queen story hour at the Loring Greenough House in Jamaica Plain on July 23, 2022:

After approximately an hour and a half, the NSC members left the sidewalk outside the Loring Greenough House and began walking toward the parking lot where they had left their cars.

After traveling about half a block, several Club members broke away from the main group and crossed the street – moving away from the parking lot – to confront the protesters at close range.

This conduct provoked an escalating conflict that continued back across the street and culminated in a street fight involving Defendant Hood in Greenough Avenue. Multiple police officers were forced to intervene to break up the fight.

After the event, NSC posted a video to its social media accounts in which it threatened that those organizing and supporting future Story Hour events would "BE ALLOWED NO PEACE, NO REST, AND NO FUTURE IN NEW ENGLAND"; stated that, as a result of Club members' activities at the Loring Greenough House, "POLICE ESCORTED THE DRAG QUEEN OUT THE BACK DOOR"; and reaffirmed that members would continue to attempt to "DISRUPT AND SHUT DOWN" Story Hour events in Massachusetts.

The khaki-clad thugs were more successful the next month in shutting down a similar event on Harbor Way in the Seaport:

The Story Hour was canceled by organizers due to safety concerns after approximately twenty NSC members arrived in a group and lined up in formation immediately in front of the public entrance to the building.

The complaint also cites the way the masked Nazis roughed up a woman who was walking on the Fairfield Street pedestrian bridge over Storrow Drive and tried to pull up the white-supremacist banner they had just unfurled on Feb. 12, 2022:

At one point, a pedestrian crossing the bridge objected to the NSC members' conduct and began recording their activities using a cell phone.

In response, at least one NSC member began to follow the pedestrian across the bridge.

When the pedestrian reached approximately the halfway point over the bridge, another Club member let go of the section of banner he was holding and performed a Nazi salute at the pedestrian as she was approaching. The pedestrian briefly stopped and grabbed the section of banner next to the member, attempting to pull it loose from the railing.

Three more NSC members then charged at the pedestrian and began shouting in her face, surrounding her and forcing her up against the railing of the bridge.

One of the NSC members then swung at the pedestrian, striking her in the arm and knocking the phone out of her hand onto the bridge.

More recently, the group ran similar intimidating pickets outside Boston-area hotels used by the state to house the influx of immigrants shipped up here by southern states, the complaint continues.

The complaint details what happened on Nov. 13, 2022, when the Nazis were thwarted in their effort to gain entry to the Anarchist Book Fair in Cambridge - they decided to bully passersby across the street:

One Club member approached a man who was pushing his small children in a stroller and began shouting and aggressively gesturing in the man's face.

Another Club member charged across the street, gesturing at another pedestrian and screaming, "You want to punch a fucking Nazi? Come on motherfucker! What? Yeah, back up bitch! Get the fuck out of here you bitch!"

The complaint details what it says is the planning that goes into the group's outbursts:

In advance of Club activities, NSC members regularly scout targeted locations in order to familiarize themselves with the area. Defendants use the information gathered to develop operational tactics and create detailed "planning graphics" that identify parking and gathering points, primary and contingency access and exit routes, and potential chokepoints or danger areas near targeted locations.

At the direction of the Club’s leadership, NSC members generally wear a standard "uniform" during sanctioned public activities. This uniform consists of khaki pants; black shirts or jackets; black ski masks, balaclavas or neck gaiters; and black or khaki hats. 33. During Club activities, NSC members regularly seek out and attempt to instigate fights and other physical confrontations.

To prepare Club members to engage in physical violence, Defendants periodically organize and provide combat and weapons trainings during which members practice fighting and engaging in coordinated maneuvers.

NSC members engage in aggressive and violent conduct during Club activities in an attempt to intimidate their "enemies" and to generate material for propaganda and recruiting videos.

It adds:

Since 2020, Defendants have repeatedly posted videos and images to NS'’s social media accounts that have featured Club members carrying out assaults, fighting, and engaging in other physical confrontations.

Defendants have given these videos and images titles such as "Join the Club" and "The Life," and labeled Club members who engage in physical violence as the “Bully Squad.”

Complete complaint (1.6M PDF).