Thread by @MsMariaT

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https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1047240318125576198

Four California men, from SoCal-based, RAM @ShannonBrooke01

@ShannonBrooke01 "The men, all part of the Rise Above Movement, or RAM...flew from CA to VA to take part in the rally, "assaulted an African-American man, two females and a minister wearing a clerical collar," among others, said the U.S. Atty for the Western Dist of VA, Thomas T. Cullen."

@ShannonBrooke01 "The four men — Benjamin Daley, 25, and Thomas Gillen, 34, both of Redondo Beach, CA; Michael Miselis, 29, of Lawndale, CA; and Cole White, 24, of Clayton, CA — have each been charged w/1 ct of CONSPIRACY to violate the federal riots statute and 1 ct of violating the statute."

@ShannonBrooke01 "An "incredible volume of digital evidence" helped federal prosecutors identify and charge the four men, Cullen said. [OOPS.]

Cullen said the men had participated in acts of violence in rallies in California, and said those acts are included in their criminal complaint."

@ShannonBrooke01 "Each defendant faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of both charges.

RAM is a SoCal-based white supremacist group with approximately 50 members and a stated intention of physically fighting those who go against its ideology, according to ProPublica."

"Cullen said the four men were arrested by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of CA and will appear in court in L.A. before a decision on bond is made. Their cases will then be transferred to Virginia, Cullen said."

Link to the Propublica piece, mentioned above:

"Racist, Violent, Unpunished: A White Hate Group’s Campaign of Menace. They train to fight. They post their beatings online. And so far, they have little reason to fear the authorities."

propublica.org/ARTICLE/WHITE-…

"Indeed, ProPublica has identified the group’s core members and interviewed one of its leaders at length. The man in the Charlottesville attacks — filmed by a documentary crew working with ProPublica — is 24-year-old Ben Daley, who runs a SoCal tree-trimming business."

"Many of the org’s core members, including Daley, have serious criminal histories...Before joining RAM, several members spent time in jail or state prison on serious felony charges including assault, robbery, and gun and knife offense."

Poss probation/parole violations. Oops.

"Daley did seven days in jail for carrying a concealed snub-nosed revolver. Another RAM member served a prison term for stabbing a Latino man five times in a 2009 gang assault."

AHEM, VERY FINE PEOPLE.

"Law enforcement officials in the four cities — Charlottesville, HUNTINGTON BEACH, San Bernardino and Berkeley — either would not comment about RAM or said they had too little evidence or too few resources to seriously investigate the group’s members."

@ShannonBrooke01

@ShannonBrooke01 "Michael German is a former FBI agent who during his career infiltrated a Nazi skinhead gang and militia organizations....said he is worried that law enforcement doesn’t comprehend the threat posed by this latest iteration of the white supremacist movement."

@ShannonBrooke01 "Police and federal agents, in his view, are “looking at this whole thing so narrowly, as two groups clashing at a protest.”

In reality, German said, “it is ORGANIZED CRIMINAL activity.” YUP. #RICO #Conspiracy

@ShannonBrooke01 The four that were arrested, they will rat the other group members out. THEY WILL RAT THE MONEY OUT.

@DanaRohrabacher, your fingerprints - or any of your donors' fingerprints - better not be ANYWHERE NEAR THIS. #RICO.

@ShannonBrooke01 @DanaRohrabacher "One of the first people known to have been targeted by RAM was a journalist working for OC Weekly, an irreverent liberal publication based in OC, CA.

The date was March 25, and writer Frank John Tristan was covering a MAGA rally in HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA.

Whoopsies. #CA48

@ShannonBrooke01 @DanaRohrabacher "The event, which had drawn more than 2,000 TRUMP SUPPORTERS, marked what seems to have been RAM’s public debut. About a dozen RAM fighters showed up, w/members carrying an anti-Semitic sign and a massive banner emblazoned with the words “Defend America.”

Their debut, you say?

@ShannonBrooke01 @DanaRohrabacher "The march also drew a small contingent of anti-Trump protesters, including some militant antifa activists, and some people intent on physically blocking the procession as it moved along PCH. Before long, the scene turned violent..."

#Provokatsiya

@ShannonBrooke01 @DanaRohrabacher "Earlier this year, on April 15, about a dozen RAM members traveled from SoCal to Berkeley. The group was met there by a fan: Vincent James Foxx, a 31-yr-old video blogger and livestreamer with a fondness for white supremacists and radical right-wing politics."

ORG'D CRIME #RICO

@ShannonBrooke01 @DanaRohrabacher "Foxx and RAM were sure another Trump rally in one of the most liberal cities in America would provide an opportunity for violence.

Two earlier political events in Berkeley had turned ugly, with crowds of left- and right-wing activists engaging in running street battles."

@ShannonBrooke01 @DanaRohrabacher Link back here to the Propublica piece, as I only teased a few pieces out:

propublica.org/ARTICLE/WHITE-…

@ShannonBrooke01 @DanaRohrabacher Four white supremacists were slapped with federal conspiracy charges related to the violence in Charlottesville last year. huffingtonpost.com/entry/charlott…

"4 members of an alt-right “fight club” charged with inciting a riot in Charlottesville vox.com/2018/10/2/1792… via @voxdotcom

@voxdotcom US v Benjamin Drake Dailey, et al

documentcloud.org/documents/4952…

DOJ has all the receipts...their SOCIAL MEDIA 🤣🤦‍♀️💩

Cleaner link to Criminal Complaint here (h/t @Deaf2Cheka ✊)

assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4953…

@proflevin @GustavoArellano

"Conspiracy to Incite a Riot - 18 U.S. Code § 2102 -

law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…