Eight skinheads were arrested in an alleged plot to foment race war by blowing up a black church and assassinating Rodney King.
The suspects - members of a neo-Nazi group called the Fourth Reich Skin Heads - were arrested in raids in four Southern California counties Thursday.The plotters wanted to "help start a race war," FBI agent Charlie Parsons said. "We prevented despicable and violent acts from occurring."
The alleged ringleader, Chris Fisher, and his young followers discussed assassinating King on Aug. 4, when the two policemen convicted of violating the black motorist's civil rights were to be sentenced, law enforcement officials said.
"Fisher said he had been thinking of targeting a baseball player or Rodney King," according to court papers. "Fisher said he felt King would be a better target." No ballplayers were mentioned by name in the court papers.
The white supremacists also allegedly planned to bomb the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Central Los Angeles and mow down its members with machine-gun fire.
They also talked of assassinating such figures as New York activist Al Sharpton, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and rap music star Eazy-E, the FBI said.
At a news conference, federal agents displayed Uzi machine guns, pipe bombs, rifles and handguns, as well as Nazi uniforms and pictures of Adolf Hitler.
"I never feel safe," King told reporters Thursday. The acquittal in state court of the four white officers charged in his beating touched off last year's riots.
"I, like many other persons, do feel a little frightened when threats are made," King said, "but this is one chapter in my life that I'd like to shut the door on."
In a 1 1/2-year investigation, an undercover FBI agent was introduced to Fisher's group by an informant posing as a clergyman for a white supremacist church. The agent was so convincing that he persuaded the skinheads to entrust him with their guns and bombs for safekeeping, authorities said.
Fisher, 20, of Long Beach, was the only one charged specifically with conspiring to attack the church, a major hub for South Central's black community.
Five other adults were charged with weapons offenses: Geremy Rineman, 22, and Jill Scarborough, 22, both of Orange County; Josh Lee, 23, of Costa Mesa; and Chris Nadal, 35, and his wife, Doris Nadal, 42, of Los Angeles.
Two unidentified minors also were arrested, but the charges weren't disclosed.
Fisher, Lee and Nadal were held without bail. Doris Nadal was freed on $25,000. Rineman and Scarborough were released without bail.
Doris Nadal denied she and her husband were involved in a racist plot, saying she had never heard of the skinhead group. She said her husband's gun collection is for protection.
"There are three bullet holes in the window. We're up to here with the gangs," she said.