Action 3 News - Omaha, Nebraska News, Weather, and Sports | ATF Investigation Leads to Arrest of White Supremacy Group
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Omaha, NE - A brass knuckle taser and a pile of assault rifles are evidence in the federal case against five men associated with white supremacy groups. Undercover ATF agents confiscated all this during a year-and-a-half long investigation. "We made numerous purchases of narcotics, firearms, we actually got over 5000 rounds of ammunition they sold us," said ATF Agent, Mickey Leadingham.
Court documents show a text message from the suspected leader to an undercover ATF agent about a potential home invasion, saying, "We r taken the job."
In a face to face meeting, the same leader tells the undercover agent one of his friends knows how to dispose of bodies if that's necessary. "They would be ready to tie them up, duck tape their hands, and at that point, burglarize a house, take whatever is of value. That's normally what they do," said Leadingham.
After being in and out of contact with the ring leader, Jason Hawthorne, the undercover agent, ATF, Sarpy County Sheriff's Office SWAT, and Omaha Police Department SWAT, set up a plan to arrest the entire group.
ATF doesn't know how many home invasions this group may be involved in, the locations of the break-in's, or if this group hurt or killed anyone.
All five are charged with drug and weapons charges. "This is not something these guys go throw together, lets go hit a house, they're planning these things out," Leadingham said.
Posted by Reporter, Erika Summers, esummers@action3news.com
