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Weird Little Guys — True Crime
Weird Little Guys

Weird Little Guys is a weekly show about the worst people you’ve never heard of, taking you beyond the headlines to get to know the race warriors and aspiring terrorists trying to unravel the fabric of our society. Weaving together the origin stories of modern American white supremacist groups and the crimes that land their members in court, independent journalist Molly Conger exposes the monsters for what they really are – some weird guy. Whether they’re conspiring to build bombs or serving swastika shaped cookies at a dinner party, the weird little guys trying to destroy America are a little less scary with their masks off.

Copyright: 2024 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia

Latest Episodes:

CZM Rewind: Arrested Democracy May 15, 2025

Show notes

Arrested Democracy, Part 1
In 2010, conspiracy theorists around the country were convinced that Barack Obama was not the rightful president. Some of them filed lawsuits. Some of them tried to have the President indicted. And when none of that worked, some of them took matters into their own hands and tried to arrest the county court employees they thought were standing in their way. In the first half of this story, Walter Fitzpatrick unsuccessfully storms the courtroom in Madisonville, Tennessee. The outcry over his arrest would motivate Oath Keeper Darren Huff to rally supporters for a second attempt.
Original air date: 11/14/24
Arrested Democracy, Part 2
When Oath Keeper Darren Huff returned to Madisonville, Tennessee on April 20, 2010, he was planning to take control of the courthouse. It didn't quite work out that way. He didn't even see the inside of a courthouse until his own arrest a week later.
Original air date: 11/21/24
Part 1 Sources:
Jardina A, Traugott M. The Genesis of the Birther Rumor: Partisanship, Racial Attitudes, and Political Knowledge. The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. 2019;4(1):60-80. doi:10.1017/rep.2018.25
Josh Pasek, Tobias H. Stark, Jon A. Krosnick, Trevor Tompson,
What motivates a conspiracy theory? Birther beliefs, partisanship, liberal-conservative ideology, and anti-Black attitudes, Electoral Studies, Volume 40, 2015
Hughey, M.W. Show Me Your Papers! Obama’s Birth and the Whiteness of Belonging. Qual Sociol 35, 163–181 (2012).
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/birther-movement-founder-trump-clinton-228304

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna33388485

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/us/12alabama.html

https://www.newsherald.com/story/news/crime/2018/10/19/vigilante-group-oath-keepers-arrested-in-mexico-beach-following-hurricane-michael/9509280007/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oath-keepers-poll-watching_n_58122566e4b0990edc2f8178

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1998/hate-group-expert-daniel-levitas-discusses-posse-comitatus-christian-identity-movement-and

https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2009mc00346/137380/2/0.pdf

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/25/judge-lamberth-jan-6-trump-00137960

https://www.tncourts.gov/rules/rules-criminal-procedure/6

Part 2 Sources:
https://www.politico.com/story/2010/04/army-birther-under-investigation-035823

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/army-birther-lakin-released-from-leavenworth/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/04/26/gordon-liddy-on-shooting-from-the-lip/75754676-030f-4191-a9e3-a421855aea1f/

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-six-g-gordon-liddy-the-126130442/

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/08/roger-stone-kristin-davis-robert-mueller/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/democratic-party-accuses-republicans-voter-intimidation-federal-court

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/attorney-for-birther-army-doc-is-former-gop-staffer-and-anti-gay-crusader

https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/gan/press/2011/11-01-11.html

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/14/fewer-than-1-of-defendants-in-federal-criminal-cases-were-acquitted-in-2022/

https://time.com/archive/6597707/the-secret-world-of-extreme-militias/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-vaxxers-charge-followers-to-join-fake-anthony-fauci-grand-jury/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4382623/fitzpatrick-v-bivins/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5092131/united-states-v-huff-tv1/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69341723/united-states-v-darren-huff/

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Minisode: Pappas v Giuliani May 13, 2025

Show notes

A bite-sized look at the NYPD officer who sued the city for firing him over anonymously mailing racist pamphlets to charitable organizations
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/17/nyregion/officer-admits-to-racist-mail-and-is-offered-deal-to-retire.html

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sotomayors-defense-of-whi_n_210795

https://www.criminallawlibraryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/335/2016/09/Sotomayor_2002Opinion_Pappas.pdf

https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2358084/pappas-v-giuliani/

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CZM Rewind: The Devil's Chatroom May 08, 2025

Show notes

The Devil's Chat Room: Ethan Melzer, Part 1
In June of 2020, US Army Private Ethan Melzer was arrested for leaking information about his unit's deployment to Turkey with the intention of causing a mass casualty incident. The plot was hatched in a Telegram chat room for a group calling itself Rapewaffen, an Atomwaffen splinter cell that was committed to the beliefs of a neonazi satanic cult called the Order of Nine Angles. This episode follows the rise of satanism within Atomwaffen and the chaos that influence caused.
Original air date: 10/31/24
A Deal With the Devil: Ethan Melzer, Part 2
In 2022, Ethan Melzer pleaded guilty to plotting to help al Qaeda ambush and kill his entire unit while on a sensitive mission in Turkey. But Melzer's co-conspirators turned out to be a Canadian teenager and a government informant, not members of al Qaeda. And the satanic cult that drew him down this nazi rabbit hole turned out to have been run by a man on the FBI payroll.
Original air date: 11/7/24
Part 1 Sources:
https://unicornriot.ninja/2020/national-guard-soldier-who-deployed-to-dc-identified-as-neo-nazi/

https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/post/ohio-national-guard-member-sent-home-for-white-supremacist-views-is-likely-a-fascist-youtuber

https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/post/ohio-national-guard-soldier-pulled-from-mission-in-d-c-appears-on-neo-fascist-podcast-says-hes-being-discharged

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/05/fbi-national-guardsman-expressed-white-supremacist-ideology-303924

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/neo-nazi-1378280

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-06-02/military-begins-staging-around-washington-to-quell-george-floyd-protests

https://hopenothate.org.uk/2020/06/23/the-rapewaffen-telegram-channel/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/soldiers-cases-highlight-reach-of-white-extremism-into-us-military/2020/06/25/0203532e-b582-11ea-9b0f-c797548c1154_story.html

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/atomwaffen-division

https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/sites/default/files/2022-06/REDACTED%20CTEC__TAT%20Accelerationism%20Report%20.pdf

https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-56044179

https://gnet-research.org/2023/09/25/the-significance-of-dark-foreigners-arrest/

Ariel Koch (2024) The ONA Network and the Transnationalization of Neo-Nazi-Satanism, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 47:10, 1172-1199, DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2021.2024944
Mathieu Colin (01 Jul 2024): “And the Devil Marches with Us”: Aesthetics and Accelerationism in the Order of Nine Angles, Terrorism and Political Violence, DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2024.2365749
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Emelie Chace-Donahue (07 Mar 2023): The Order of Nine Angles: Cosmology, Practice & Movement, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2023.2186737
Shanon Shah, Jane Cooper & Suzanne Newcombe (19 Apr 2023): Occult Beliefs and the Far Right: The Case of the Order of Nine Angles, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2023.2195065
Part 2 Sources:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17286246/united-states-v-melzer

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69307006/united-states-of-america-v-melzer/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/neo-nazi-1378280

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/jack-teixiera-case-military-extremism-1234724461

https://www.wired.com/story/the-dangerous-exploits-of-an-extremist-fbi-informant/

https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/black-sky-thinking/ona-fascism-nazis-folk-horror-underground-occult/

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Shooter Without A Cause May 06, 2025

Show notes

The guy who took a shot at Trump last summer wasn't the first person to shoot a presidential candidate without a clear political motive. In 1972, Arthur Bremer failed to assassinate Richard Nixon and settled on one of Nixon's opponents instead.

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Mission South Africa May 01, 2025

Show notes

At the end of this miniseries about white supremacist terrorism in the final years of apartheid in South Africa, this episode returns to the present day as white South Africans are lining up outside the embassy in Pretoria to claim refugee status under Trump's executive order.
Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-focuses-persecution-claims-white-south-africans-seek-resettlement-2025-04-24/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/06/white-afrikaner-donald-trump-america-us-administration
https://www.dw.com/en/us-diplomat-ejected-from-new-zealand-after-mysterious-incident/a-38016563

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_departments/Parliamentary_Library/Research/FlagPost/2022/May/diplomatic-expulsions

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/24/australia-expels-israeli-diplomat

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59023465

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/world/americas/06ecuador.html

https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/05/29/so-how-do-you-expel-an-ambassador-anyway/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/addressing-egregious-actions-of-the-republic-of-south-africa/

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/social/

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/pool-reports-february-2-2025

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-press-gaggle-after-air-force-one-arrival-february-2-2025/#15

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/calendar/

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-african-party-accuses-white-group-treason-over-trump-attack-2025-02-10/

https://www.enca.com/news-top-stories/ramaphosa-slams-afriforum-solidarity

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-02-13-apartheid-stratcom-agents-trump-edwin-feulner/

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/oct/24/an-indictment-of-south-africa-whites-only-town-orania-is-booming

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-white-afrikaner-separatists-want-trumps-help-become-state-2025-04-03/

https://laist.com/news/food/milky-way-kosher-restaurant-reopens-steven-spielbergs-mom-la-legendary

https://iol.co.za/news/politics/2025-03-17-eff-condemns-us-ambassador-expulsion-vows-to-block-white-supremacist-appointment/

https://www.biznews.com/interviews/2025/02/27/us-ramaphosa-financial-sanction-anc-joel-pollak

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-30-new-us-envoy-might-be-even-more-conservative-than-me-joel-pollak/

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/23/africa/south-african-ambassador-ebrahim-rasool-intl/index.html

https://mistra.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/MISTRA-Statement-webinar-Implications-of-changes-in-US-administration-for-South-Africa-and-Africa.pdf

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-18-rasool-diplomacy-and-global-power/

https://www.sajr.co.za/rasools-expulsion-a-crisis-not-a-hiccup/

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumps-pick-for-ambassador-to-south-africa-actively-opposed-fight-to-end-apartheid

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/07/14/Foundation-unveils-Contra-commercials/1746553233600/

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2025-02-19-ernst-roets-leaves-solidarity-movement-to-live-out-his-calling/

https://za.usembassy.gov/u-s-refugee-admissions-program-faqs/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/us/politics/trump-south-africa-white-afrikaners-refugee.html

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Listener Q&A Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

Molly answers questions submitted by listeners.

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Blood River Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

In 2002, a terrorist group failed to assassinate Nelson Mandela. In 2012, a plot to assassinate Jacob Zuma was foiled. Both plots were attempts to fulfill a prophecy and renew a bloody covenant with God.
Sources:
Thompson, Leonard L. The Political Mythology of Apartheid. Yale University Press, 1986.
FA Mouton (1995) F A van Jaarsveld (1922–1995) — a flawed genius?, , 27:1,
5-11, DOI: 10.1080/00232089585310011
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00232089585310011
Stephney, Inez Mary. “Race, History and the Internet: The use of the Internet in White Supremacist Propaganda in the late 1990’s, with particular reference to South Africa”
https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/b04bdabb-ecd9-4f99-a3ae-fff55b88f483/content
Schönteich, Martin, and Henri Boshoff. “Volk”, Faith and Fatherland: The Security Threat Posed by the White Right. Institute for Security Studies, 2003.
Ndlovu, Sifiso Mxolisi. “Johannes Nkosi and the Communist Party of South Africa: Images of ‘Blood River’ and King Dingane in the Late 1920s-1930.” History and Theory, vol. 39, no. 4, 2000, pp. 111–32. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2678052.
http://www.anc.org.za/content/formation-umkhonto-we-sizwe
https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/johannes-nkosi
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/december-16-reflection-changing-south-african-heritage
https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222024000200001
https://www.iol.co.za/news/rightwing-coup-plot-case-postponed-1491552
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/battle-blood-river-1838
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/origins-battle-blood-river-1838

https://web.archive.org/web/20071220164018/http://www2.univ-reunion.fr/~ageof/text/74c21e88-617.html#_ftn13

https://web.archive.org/web/20081217042554/http://history.humsci.ukzn.ac.za/files/sempapers/Adutoit2005.pdf
https://www.litnet.co.za/adriaan-snyman-1938/

https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/items/a64ddcfc-49eb-4680-b59d-b342d8bc358c
https://www.news24.com/news24/five-boeremag-members-found-guilty-of-conspiring-to-murder-madiba-20150430
https://mg.co.za/article/2004-08-03-boeremag-relied-on-rottweiler-and-kgb/
Snyman, Adriaan. Voice of a Prophet. Vaandel Publishers, 1999.

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The Jamboree in Jamba Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

This is the very strange story of the time Dolph Lundgren starred in a piece of apartheid propaganda.
Sources:
Bellant, Russ. Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party. South End Press, 1991.
Abramoff, Jack. Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth about Washington Corruption from America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist. WND Books, 2011.
Easton, Nina. Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade. Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Ivon, David. “Touting for South Africa: International Freedom Foundation.” Covert Action Information Bulletin, 1989.
Blumenthal, Sidney (December 1983). "Let Lehrman Be Reagan". The New Republic.
Cachalia, Firoz and Mervyn Shear. WITS: A University in the Apartheid Era. Wits University Press, 2022.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-02-13-apartheid-stratcom-agents-trump-edwin-feulner/
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-13-atrocious-crimes-apartheid-hitmans-brutal-confessions-serve-as-a-warning-for-south-africans/
https://mg.co.za/article/2008-05-29-the-spy-who-lost-it/
https://mg.co.za/article/2001-03-23-the-height-of-hypocrisy/
https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/SNSep83.pdf
https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files4/SNNov83.pdf
https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files4/SNOct80.pdf
https://staging.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files3/pam19870826.026.009.583.pdf
https://antifainfoblatt.de/aib24/suedafrika-machtkampf-krieg-auf-kleiner-flamme
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/48870988/volume-36-number-07-university-of-the-witwatersrand
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/38832258/volume-36-number-13
https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/06/293602.html?c=on
https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files2/pam19811200.026.009.580.pdf
https://harpers.org/archive/2008/08/the-wrecking-crew/
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/06/world/4-rebel-units-sign-anti-soviet-pact.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/10/world/reporter-s-notebook-angola-s-children-of-war.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20060128022735/

http://www.alternet.org/story/13134/
https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/1996/3.pdf
https://www.georgeherald.com/News/Article/Local-News/robert-hall-pioneer-in-medical-equipment-dies-20170711
https://mg.co.za/article/1996-04-04-noseweek-case-takes-a-new-turn/
https://www.nonproliferation.org/wp-content/uploads/npr/73gould.pdf
https://www.salon.com/2005/08/17/abramoff_2/
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/09/movies/south-africa-helps-us-film-makers-in-namibia-with-troops-and-trucks.html
https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/case-study/abramoff-lobbying-congress

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The Whites' Last Stand Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

In the final days of apartheid, white extremists were getting desperate. That desperation contributed to one of the strangest political crises of the late 20th century:
Sources:
https://dcist.com/story/12/09/24/aryan-nations/
https://archive.idavox.com/index.php/2012/09/24/the-aryan-nations-show-of-farce-in-dc/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naRGivc7Ong
Guelke, Adrian. “Political Violence and the South African Transition.” Irish Studies in International Affairs, vol. 4, 1993, pp. 59–68. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30001810
https://antifainfoblatt.de/aib24/suedafrika-machtkampf-krieg-auf-kleiner-flamme
https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/white-supremacist-arthur-kemp-steps-leader-neo-nazi-group-national-alliance/
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/26/world/white-separatists-storm-south-african-negotiations.html?fbclid=IwAR2oDpPTYh0q173RdYwv5cox59uhpyHBrQdGfC65L22gY7pZAcwbArH8BkI
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/how-the-volk-myth-died-it-took-just-a-few-minutes-to-change-the-course-of-south-african-history-john-carlin-reports-from-mafikeng-1428703.html
https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/amntrans/1998/98092123_mma_mmabath3.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20140503185912/

http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/newsticker/rechte-in-suedafrika-rekrutieren-internationale-soeldner---politikermord-lautet-ein-auftrag-die-killer-kamen-von-der-reeperbahn,10917074,8820188.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/13/world/a-homeland-s-agony.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
https://mg.co.za/article/1994-06-17-foreign-hooligans-embarrass-awb/
https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media%5C1997%5C9708/s970821c.htm
https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/amntrans%5Cpta/2derby1.htm
Death of Apartheid: The Whites’ Last Stand. (1995, May 28). Brian Lapping Associates.

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White Guns for Hire Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

In 1994, a second group of mercenaries arrived at the airport in Johannesburg... but no one was there to pick them up. Their host had been arrested days earlier, after the last group of mercenaries she'd hosted got into a deadly shootout with the South African police. But how did all these Germans end up in South Africa in the first place?

https://www.propublica.org/article/vasilios-pistolis-imprisoned-marine-hate-groups
Sources:
Simonelli, F. J. (1999). American Führer: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party. University of Illinois Press.
Krott, R. (2008). Save the last bullet for yourself: A soldier of fortune in the Balkans and Somalia. Casemate.
Eisenberg, D. (1967). The Reemergence of Fascism. Barnes.
https://balkans.aljazeera.net/news/balkan/2017/11/29/slobodan-praljak-umro-u-bolnici
Bartholomäus Grill: German right-wing radicals shoot in South Africa: License plate D. In: Die Zeit . No. 13 , 25 March 1994
Antifaschistisches Autorenkollektiv: Drahtzieher im braunen Netz : Ein aktueller Überblick über den Neonazi-Untergrund in Deutschland und Österreich. Konkret Literatur Verlag, 1996,
https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/jm214q33q?locale=it
https://js.emory.edu/news/news-stories-container/Using%20South%20African%20Archives%20to%20Study%20PostWorld%20War%20Two%20Antisemitism%20and%20White%20Supremacist%20Networks.html
https://scholar.ufs.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/c7f1b03d-343d-4abf-bcb3-e508f43dbc90/content
https://antifainfoblatt.de/aib99/dressed-kill
Searchlight Magazine, issues July, August, September 1996

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