O.C. Skinheads’ Violent Streak Raises Concern

In the underworld of Orange County gangs, an estimated 200 young men and women belong to white supremacist groups that are distinguished by their hatred of Jews, ethinic minorities and immigrants--and their propensity for spontaneous violence.

“It’s not so much the numbers that concern us,” said Jonathan Bernstein, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. The concern, he said, is “these are messed-up kids who are really very violent.”

The young men and women belong to an estimated 18 different groups, ranging from hard-core white supremacists to preteens searching for excitement, identity and a sense of belonging, officials said.

Police said some of the groups roam the streets of Orange County in packs looking for victims to harass or assault. The members of these groups may come from wealthy families or be homeless runaways, officials said.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Paer said most of the gang members come from broken homes, are poorly educated and “are creatures of dysfunction and alienation.”

Orange County, officials said, has its share of members of the white supremacist groups White Aryan Resistance and Church of the Creator. Some members of these groups were allegedly connected to a plot to kill Rodney G. King and bomb the First AME Church in Los Angeles, officials said.

Authorities said at least 50 of the local white supremacist youths are members of the White Aryan Resistance and Church of the Creator.

Other groups in the county go by the names of Public Enemy Number One, American White Separatists, Western Hammer Skinheads, and Confederate Front of America, Paer said.

“A lot of the violence is spontaneous,” said Huntington Beach Police Sgt. R.K. Miller, whose city has attracted these groups in the past. “They might see an interracial couple walking down the street and start harassing them.”

Officials said that, in 1992, of the 2,900 gang cases taken to the district attorney’s office for prosecution, 2% involved white gangs. Even though it is a small percentage, officials said the trend for spontaneous violence makes the white gangs a particular concern.

One of the most dramatic examples of these attacks occurred in 1991 when a Chinese-American youth was beaten unconscious at a Fullerton park by a group of least 15 youths, most with buzzed haircuts and the traditional leather jackets and boots worn by skinheads.

Group members shouted racial slurs and gave Nazi-style salutes as they began the attack, during which two white friends of the Sunny Hills High School student were also beaten.

Police said the gang had been in Placentia a few hours before the Fullerton attack, harassing a black family. Officials said white supremacist groups simply pick a night to harass and hurt people.

Other incidents blamed on white racist groups include the October, 1990, attack of a Latino restaurant employee in San Clemente. Also in 1990, a white gang beat up a black man in Huntington Beach.

Unlike other gangs, which are based in a specific location, the white racist groups are non-territorial and often move from city to city, which makes their numbers difficult to track.

“They show up anywhere,” Miller said. “Basically, they find areas they like and go there for a while until they get tired of it or law enforcement chases them out.”

“They run across all social strata,” Miller said. “They are basically dysfunctional youth who are pretty alienated and this is an outlet for them. Like any gang member, they are looking for something.”

The groups, officials said, are organized and recruit heavily in junior high schools, high schools and in colleges.

“They want to create a homeland for whites only,” said Paer, who works for the district attorney’s gang unit. “They are definitely anti-minority and anti-immigration.”

Earlier this year, recruitment flyers touting some of these groups were left on the Cal State Fullerton campus.

Also, about 250 students at Edison High School in Huntington Beach had recruitment flyers sent to their homes. It “shook up a lot of people,” Bernstein said.

Paer said such recruitment tactics are typical.

“They do a lot of recruiting and try to get people to go to meetings,” he said. “Most of them are real young, from 11 years old into their 20s. There is a lot of brainwashing that goes on.”

In addition to flyers, recruitment is also done through peer pressure, underground newspapers and telephone hot lines.