Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 23:02:36 -0400 From: NewsHound@sjmercury.com (NewsHound) Subject: [72] VIPER FOUNDER WAS ONCE SUSPECTED OF BEING FBI PLANT Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "MILITIA". The selectivity score was 72 out of 100. Viper founder was once suspected of being FBI plant BY CAROL MORELLO and GWEN FLORIO Knight-Ridder News Service PHOENIX -- The founder of the Viper Militia came on so strong that the man who recruits militia members around Arizona suspected him of being an FBI plant, he said Wednesday. Walter Burien, the recruiter, said Finis "Rick" Walker III, a used furniture salesman who is one of 12 suspects accused of plotting to blow up buildings, was a caricature of a militia member and his Viper Militia was little more than a vehicle for his ego. "It's like he'd gone to an FBI training school on how to be a plant," said Burien, a founder of the Arizona Sons and Daughters of Liberty and an official with the Militia of Arizona. He said Burien was so brash and provocative he became a pariah within the militia movement and most of his followers grew alienated and resigned. Burien said Walker threatened to use explosives in defense against law enforcement. But he was so adamant, said Burien, that the Militia of Arizona did not report his threats to local law enforcement because they suspected he was an agent provocateur. Instead, they refused to let him join the group and banned him from meetings of the Militia of Arizona, an umbrella group for about 200 small militias. Wednesday, as new details emerged about the little-known militia, regular militias scrambled to distance themselves from a group they worried was so radical that it seemed to parody their principles. Other militias said they feared the Viper Militia's hostility would estrange potential new members at a time they are trying to appeal to mainstream Americans and to recruit law enforcement and military to their ranks. "We didn't think his motives were clean and true," Burien said of Walker. "He said if they were attacked they'd fight back and kick ass. He said they'd use high explosives. He talked nothing about rights. Nothing about discipline in the government. He was a stereotype in his manner. But there was no substance." At its peak, the Viper Militia had attracted 45 members, Burien said, but two-thirds resigned four months ago when they grew disenchanted with Walker's leadership. Burien's behavior worried the mainstream militia, Burien said, because they are actively seeking membership at this time. Only last month, the Militia of Arizona invited area law enforcement authorities to send representatives to a hear a militia presentation. Federal agencies, including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, declined, Burien said. But the Phoenix police department sent someone. In essense, the militias want to infiltrate law enforcement as they believe the law has infiltrated their movement. Burien estimated that 10,000 of Arizon's 15,000 militia members are active-duty military. Another 60 to 85 are local and state law enforcement. At least some county sheriffs have close ties to the groups, even if they are not members. "We're looking for converts," Burien said. The cause championed by the so-called patriot movement espouses a retreat from big government and a return to local rule, with no law enforcement officer higher than the county sheriff. Members are convinced most government above the local level, in collusion with the media, is willing to go to any length to maintain control over billions of dollars in federal and state coffers. "What I support and what I see in most militias is the type of courage to stand for freedom as exemplified by the Chinese students in Tianenman Square," said Richard Mack, sheriff of rural Graham County and co-author of two books -- "From My Cold, Dead Fingers: Why America Needs Guns" and "Government, God and Freedom: A Fundamental Trinity." "Put yourself in the way and stand for freedom -- nonviolently, peacefully, but very strong," added Mack, who speaks frequently to patriot groups around the country. Mack professes disdain for fringe elements in the movement. "Any hint of violence, or the promotion of violence, or the promotion of racism or bigotry, and I'm gone," he insisted. The Coalition for Human Dignity, a Seattle-based organization that tracks right-wing extremist groups, questions his sincerity and says the movement actually fosters those views. "(Mack) has shown up at meetings hosted by leaders of vigilante common-law courts," said Robert Crawford, a senior researcher for the coalition. "He's given his clear nod through that to some level of support for vigilantism." Both Mack and former Phoenix police officer Jack McLamb, a high-profile patriot-movement speaker, have addressed racist, right-wing groups, said Crawford. "Mack has appeared in front of a group of Christian Identity believers -- which I think is the moral equivalent of neo-Naziism ... and he went after the NAACP as doing more damage to black people than slaveholders in the Old South, which is ludicrous and offensive," he said. But that's not illegal. Law-enforcement officers said they can't monitor people or groups until, as with the Vipers, they get a tip something illegal is going on. "There's nothing wrong with putting a bumper sticker on your car saying 'I Hate the IRS,'" said Sgt. Dave Meyers, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety. "But if you have a trunkful of dynamite and you're on your way to the IRS, that becomes a different issue." While militias may garner a lot of attention, they're nearly invisible in crime statistics. Someone dies in gang warfare every few days in Arizona's largest cities, Meyers noted. Only one death -- in last year's train derailment outside Phoenix, allegedly by a group calling itself Sons of the Gestapo -- can be blamed on radical conservative groups, he said. Authorities are investigating whether Viper Militia may have been involved in the train wreck, or the 1994 slaying of a miner shot near the group's desert training site. A cache of ammonium nitrate -- the fertilizer used in the Oklahoma City bombing that was also found in Viper members' homes -- subsequently was found in the mine, said Bill Hawes, assistant state mine inspector. People within the movement say they hope that threats of violence will not stop them from spreading their message and suggest that everything from Oklahoma City's bombing to the train wreck were government-inspired sabotage to give it a reason to crack down on militias. They say, though, that they are ready for such a move and it won't work. "We've got 15,000 members," said Burien, "in just two years. This time next year we'll have 50,000." ----- This material is copyrighted and may not be republished without permission of the originating newspaper or wire service. NewsHound is a service of the San Jose Mercury News. For more information call 1-888-344-6863.