Irving S. Rubin, 26. West Coast coordinator of the Jewish Defense League, has been arrested on a charge of assault with intent to commit murder against the Los Angeles County head of the American Nazi Party. He is free on bail after surrendering to authorities. Nazi leader Joseph Tomasci, 21, filed a complaint early this month charging Rubin with firing “several” shots at the Nazi’s car two days after a mass JDL-sponsored demonstration Jan. 30 in front of the party’s headquarters in El Monte, A Los Angeles suburb.
Tomasci, who lives at the Nazi headquarters, told police he recognized Rubin as the man who fired shots at his car as he returned home from a Los Angeles television station Feb. 1. Rubin and Tomasci were scheduled to appear on a local TV talk show but became involved in a loud verbal argument. Tomasci told police Rubin threw hot coffee at him.
The complaint against Rubin, which has been forwarded to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for further action, also charges that as Tomasci was driving home from the television station he was fired upon from a passing vehicle. The Nazi leader reported that only one shot struck his car and that he was not injured. Tomasci filed the complaint after the incident.
The JDL and other local citizen groups recently have been attempting to apply pressure on the El Monte city officials in an effort to oust the Nazis, who call themselves the National Socialist White People’s Party, from their El Monte headquarters. A rock and bottle-throwing melee erupted Jan. 30 at the headquarters site after the JDL marched past the swastika-decked building and dispersed. Forty persons were arrested and jailed on various charges, however, as violence broke out between spectators and the uniformed Nazis, some carrying rifles.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
