Neo-Nazis are active in New England, holding public demonstrations and targeting our Jewish, Black and LGBTQ+ communities.
They’ve stormed Harvard Square, threatening pedestrians and passersby, hung antisemitic messages off a Saugus highway overpass, and harassed people attending a drag queen story hour in New Hampshire.
Drag performer Juicy Garland organized last month’s event at the Teatotaller cafe in Concord, New Hampshire, and watched as families cowered in fear.
“The family that I was speaking to sort of ran away to the front of the cafe, fearing for their safety," Garland recalled. "I felt legitimate danger. I felt danger to my person.”
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These incidents and many more are being chronicled by the Task Force Butler Institute. It’s a nonprofit group made up of veterans, led by Kristofer Goldsmith.
“This is my hobby,” Goldsmith told NBC10 Boston “I'm doing my hobby for a living. I'm hunting Nazis.”
Goldsmith joined the military after the September 11th attacks. Two decades later, Goldsmith says he’s serving the country by infiltrating white supremacist groups online and striking at the heart of their hateful ideology.
“Our theory of change is that we can disincentivize being a nazi by imposing legal, social & economic costs on these group members,” Goldsmith says.
Goldsmith is the public face of Task Force Butler. Its members investigate extremist organizations then try to sabotage them from the inside. They expose the identities of members of white nationalist groups then pass the information to law enforcement.
"We will find out their identities, “Goldsmith says. “They might find legal consequences because we've given that information to law enforcement. And after the fact, they often have a habit of betraying the Nazi organization that they once served in. They often come to us with a vendetta against their former friends, and they'll identify the ones who are still involved in the group. “
This work comes as extremist activity reaches historic levels in New England.
There were 204 incidents, including harassment, assault and vandalism, recorded in a March report from the Anti-Defamation League of New England. The advocacy group reports that this was a 32% increase from 2021.
The ADL reports more than 350 incidents of anti-LGBTQ harassment, vandalism or assault in the U.S. from June 2022 through April 2023.
One group of neo-Nazis, formed four years ago in Massachusetts, is, NSC-131.
"Their sole purpose is to use violence and threats of violence and property destruction to coerce, to intimidate”, Goldsmith says.
Goldsmith says NSC-131 believe New England is a ripe target for them.
“Their stated mission is to make New England a white ethno state," Goldsmith says.
Task Force Butler recently released a 300-page report on NSC-131. The report identifies the group’s alleged leaders and members through pictures and social media posts.
The report has not been released to the public. But Task Force Butler institute shared it with the NBC10 Investigators, as well as and law enforcement agencies, including the Massachusetts and New Hampshire attorneys general offices.
The report includes links to NSC-131’s social media posts, which identify what could be their motive, video of assaults or property damage. It also spells out specific laws that Task Force Butler believes have been violated.
“We identified dozens of members, connected them to specific violent events, and gave everything that prosecutors at all levels of government would need to file charges, both civil and criminal,” Goldsmith says.
Goldsmith says combatting neo-Nazis in New England requires law enforcement agencies across New England working together.
Goldsmith says local and state law enforcement officers should be talking to officials from other states, as well as members of federal law enforcement.
"Across state lines so that we can share evidence, work together, and take down NSC-131 with racketeering laws, like terrorism laws, “goldsmith says. “like laws for criminal street gangs. All of which. This neo-nazi gang is.
Goldsmith says he’s frustrated that law enforcement has not made arrests in connection with a violent incident that happened in Boston’s Back Bay in July 2022.
In that incident, Charles Murrell III told police he was knocked to the ground and kicked by members of the group “Patriot front” outside Back Bay station. Murrell says he suffered injuries to his hand and head during the incident.
Goldsmith says Task Force Butler has identified the Patriot Front members who were involved in the incident and shared that information with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.
"We wrote a report unmasking the conspiracies behind (the incident.) We identified members of Patriot Front who are assigned as holding those metal shields, those weapons, those deadly weapons," Goldsmith says. “Police witnessed it. We've provided all the evidence necessary. There's still hasn't been an arrest.”
Both Boston police and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office say last July’s incident remains under investigation.
The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell told NBC10Boston that they’ve spoken with Goldsmith and are reviewing the research Task Force Butler provided.
But goldsmith isn’t waiting for the slow wheels of justice to turn. He says there’s just too much work to be done to keep the cancer of white supremacy from spreading
"If we can't get them locked away, we're going to sue them and we're going to take away their houses," Goldsmith says. “We're going to take away their cars. We're going to make it so that they can't survive. “
Goldsmith tells NBC10 Boston that he’s optimistic that both the Massachusetts and new Hampshire attorneys’ general offices will take action.
NBC10 Boston reached out to leaders of NSC-131, for their response to Task Force Butler's work. They did not respond.
