Feds link now dead Quincy Nazi to four anti-Semitic arson fires; brother indicted for trying to conceal evidence against him

Federal officials today announced the arrest of a Quincy man they say tried to obstruct their investigation into why his alleged Nazi of a brother might've set fire to orthodox Jewish centers and a Jewish-owned business in 2019.

They are withholding the name of the prime suspect, whom they said was a virulent anti-Semite and part of a group with a "racially motivated, violent extremist ideology," because he's dead: He was hospitalized six months after the fires in May of that year, slipped into a coma from which he never recovered, then died in September, 2020. The indictment does not say what he fell ill with or whether he suffered pain during his final months

In the indictment unsealed today, a grand jury charged Alexander Giannakakis, 35, of Quincy, with trying to hide his brother's Nazism and violent tendencies from investigators, in party by lying to them, in part by gathering up some of the evidence and then returning to Stockholm, Sweden, where he had been working as a security contractor for the US embassy, following his brother's death.

Specifically, Giannakakis is charged with with making false statements in a matter involving domestic terrorism; falsifying, concealing and covering up a material fact in a matter involving domestic terrorism by trick, scheme and device; concealing records in a federal investigation; tampering with documents and objects; and tampering with an official proceeding.

The US Attorney's office says it now plans to seek his extradition from Sweden, where he is currently behind bars at the request of US authorities. He faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.

According to the indictment, which was issued last September, but only released publicly today, following Giannakakis's detention, investigators looking into three fires at Chabad centers in Arlington and Needham and a fourth fire at a "Jewish-affiliated business" in Chelsea eventually connected with investigators working on a separate probe into a white-supremacist group in the Boston area and realized Giannakakis's brother was involved in both.

Although there were few eyewitness accounts of the fires, investigators linked some evidence found evidence at one scene - a can of acetone - that they were able to link to the brother after State Police were able to identify his fingerprints on the can.

When FBI agents and Quincy Police visited the home of the men's mother in January, 2020, when they were investigating the younger brother for his Nazi activities - they had yet to link him to the fires - she "confirmed the suspect's anti-Semitic views" and gave them a document that "purported to be the cover page to a charter for a group that [the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force] agents believed consisted of individuals who might use violence against Jews to further the group's racially-motivated, violent extremist ideology."

Nine days after their visit, meanwhile, Giannakakis, who had returned to Quincy in November, 2019, ostensibly to help settle his brother's affairs, flew back to Sweden - taking with him his brother's laptop and phone, as well as "sketches, writings and mail."

In February, 2020, a month before the younger Giannakakis's death, State Police identified his fingerprints on the can of acetone and agents realized he was involved in both the Nazi efforts and the fires. They now began to investigate him formally as a domestic terrorist, the indictment says.

Alexander came back to the US in March, via JFK Airport. Customs agents there, alerted to his flight, interviewed him and he said, yes, he had brought some of his brother's stuff with him, but was unable to get into the laptop or phone and that he planned to bring those back to his mother's home in Quincy - for which FBI agents got a search warrant, which they executed on March 20.

This time, they found clothing in the now dead brother's room that matched those seen on surveillance video of the fires, along with they swastikas and anti-Jewish writings in his room, including "EIN LAND EIN VOLK, EIN FUHRER" as well as "A world without Jews is a world without scum. Something we should aim for" and "We must kill, we must kill all Jews. that is simply essential," the indictment says.

FBI agents interviewed Alexander and he agreed to open a family locker at a local self-storage place, where they found nothing incriminating, the indictment continued But what he didn't tell authorities but that they knew, was that the brothers had access to a second locker, just a few doors down - where his brother kept T-shirts emblazoned with swastikas, a notebook with a swastika drawn inside it and a backpack containing a bottle of cyanide. Alexander had visited the second locker the night before he let the agents look at the first one, the indictment says.

Two nights later, he returned, opened the second locker and removed some of its contents - including the backpack with the bottle of cyanide. He then went to Logan and flew back to Stockholm, the indictment alleges.

A federal grand jury sitting in Boston indicted him in September, 2021; the document was kept sealed until Swedish police arrested him.

In a statement, Rabbi Avi Bukiet of the Arlington Chabad center said:

While I sincerely hoped that the arsonist himself would be apprehended and brought to justice to answer for the crimes committed, unfortunately he did not give himself that opportunity. It is with much relief that his brother has been apprehended and hopefully be extradited to the United States and face the law for his obstruction and tampering in this matter.

There is much hope and optimism to be gained from the tremendous work done by law enforcement on all levels. From the very beginning they called it for what it was: a
domestic terror attack fueled by anti-Semitic motivations. While this case is far from over, myself, my family and my community can have a sense of closure from today's
news.

Complete indictment (1.4M PDF).

Innocent, etc.