New York Neo-nazis, Including ‘fuehrer’, Held in Bail for Hearings

Eight alleged neo-Nazis, including James Madole, 36-year-old self-styled “fuehrer” of the anti-Semitic and anti-Negro National Renaissance Party, were held in $5,000 bail each, for hearings July 23, when they were arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court here today.

Six, including a Jewish youth, Ian Lehr, 21, a clerk in the State Department of Taxation and Finance, were charged, before Judge Ambrose Haddock, with possession of deadly weapons, incitement to riot, and “anarchy.” Two, including Madole and Daniel Burros, 26, were charged with conspiracy.

Three of the men — Edward Cassidy, Paul Joachim and John Corrigan — were arrested yesterday morning in front of a police station, after they had complained to police that a truck which they were driving had had a window smashed by anti-racism pickets demonstrating before a hamburger stand in The Bronx, Examining their truck, the police found what was called “a deadly arsenal” of guns, ammunition and other weapons. Later, the homes of several others were searched. In the home of one of the group, Peter Kraus, 18, of Queens, police said they found rifles, nearly 3,000 rounds of ammunition, zip guns, a bayonet, and anti-Semitic literature.

According to police, the men had conspired, under the leadership of Madole, to exploit the anti-racist demonstrations by distributing hate literature and inciting to further rioting. Madole’s group has been involved in a number of anti-Semitic demonstrations in the last six months. The House Committee on Un-American Activities has called the National Renaissance Party “clearly subversive.”

Lehr’s father told newsmen that he is a Jew, that his aged parents were “very devout Orthodox Jews,” and that a younger son was about to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. Almost in tears over his elder son’s involvement with neo-Nazis, the father said: “I’m sorry for Ian. He’s so mixed up. He’s got to take his medicine. But I’m grieved over the effect on the family. We are innocent.”