But the murder of White Nationalist Richard Barrett by Vice Lord Vincent McGee has some people nervous, some curious and a few amused. While I find gang violence leading to homicide unamusing no matter how degenerate the victim (and as we’ll see Barrett could only be described as a degenerate in the most literal sense) I do understand the lack of sympathy for Barrett decent people will feel. After all, he ran a (now defunct) White Supremacist organization which mysteriously has no media presence, Internet or otherwise, yet he was known to raise funds by staging publicity stunts. As a lawyer he represented many neo-Nazis and claimed to hold their cause as his own. His long history of being a Klansman caricature is detailed here.

His life was ended by a felon who was just out of prison, a member of the Vice Lords who in fact had contact with Barrett before and who had a history of violence. Some claim his motive was Barrett’s racist views, but here’s where the story breaks down. Barrett, known racist and separatist, was paying McGee for yard work. From the Clarion-Ledger:

While McGee is African American, authorities have not said Barrett’s racial beliefs were a motive in his slaying.

McGee had performed yard work for Barrett, Pennington said.

A person who was known to demand Black Americans “go back to Africa” was paying a man with gang tattoos on his face to mow his lawn? But the story gets odder:

Witnesses told investigators Barrett had gone to McGee’s home around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to pay him for yard work.

Around 8 a.m. Thursday, one of Barrett’s neighbors called firefighters after smoke was spotted at Barrett’s home at 227 E. Petros Road east of the Monterey community near Pearl.

So, a White Supremacist who hates and fears Black people went over to a young Black felon’s house in the late evening to “pay him for yard work” and they both ended up back at his house? This is some piss poor bigotry. But the Clarion-Ledger unwittingly puts some of the pieces together for you:

But Barrett was more of a showman than a significant leader, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups as part of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center.

“He was a white supremacist gadfly who flitted from cause to cause. He never assembled a group that amounted to more than a few young men,” Potok said.

“Very frequently in the ’80s he would invite young skinhead men to his home on weekends.“

Mark Potak, who has a history of making up facts to “sex up” his S.P.L.C. reports (including this recent one on everyone to the right of Stalin being a terrorist or something) as a fund raising tool, goes on in that interview to claim Barrett had pull with the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan disagrees:

Told of Barrett’s death, Klan leader Jordan Gollub of Jackson said, “It’s tragic that something happened to him.

“We discussed historical and political issues together. But I can’t say I agreed with him much,” said Gollub, who heads the Royal Confederate Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

That “much” apparently being whether or not White Nationalism was just a money making scheme. Here’s a telling quote from The Daily Mail:

In 1994, he spearheaded an unsuccessful movement to get then-Gov. Kirk Fordice to pardon Byron de la Beckwith, who was convicted of murdering Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers in 1963.

Evers’ brother, Charles Evers, said Thursday he has long thought that Barrett didn’t really believe the things he said, but used them to entice people to donate money to his cause.

‘I think it was just a way he had to live,’ Evers said. ‘He made a living talking all that racist talk.’

Surprise! Neo-Nazis are marks. Few “news organizations” have pointed out that if Barrett was some big wig bigot he may have been able to find a fellow White bigot to mow his lawn (or since he was apparently an avid bicyclist could have no doubt done it himself) but instead he wanted a violent felon with facial tattoos. Then he wanted to pay him on a slow, sultry evening.

Before you start with the “You’re a homophobe” stuff, everyone knows Rob Taylor is a friend to the LGBT community (and long time supporter of GOProud and The Pink Pistols) but like any good friend I sometimes have to point out that the mainstream gay culture fetishizes dangerous sexual liaisons which can lead to trouble. Such was the case in the George Weber murder, and such will be the case now.

The news is playing coy with this story but the subtext makes things apparent. I believe this was a hook up gone bad and Barrett was a racist who was driven by some odd conflict in his broken psyche to antagonize the objects of his lust. I further believe that despite McGee’s protests he was a hustler, or at least pretended to be one in some scam. It beggars belief that a White supremacist who truly loathed and feared Blacks hired a young thug with gang tattoos on his face to mow his lawn. Even McGee isn’t telling that story:

Official sources who asked not to be identified, tell WLBT, 22-year-old Vincent McGee, in his confession, alleged Barrett made sexual advances to him, apparently sending McGee into a rage, a rage that ended in murder.

We asked Sheriff Pennington about it. He had no comment other than to say the murder was not racially motivated. Rankin-Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest also would not discuss specifics of the case, but he did have this to say.

“I was surprised to hear about this and then as the case unfolded, there were other twists and turns that again were unforeseen in this case,” Guest said.

But it gets creepier:

McGee’s family members told WLBT, Thursday night, that McGee, when he was a teenager, before he went to prison, knew Barrett and had worked for him.

Hmmm. Look, as I said before “gay panic” is a load of BS used by people who want to explain their own perverted desire to beat up or kill gays that they have had some sort of sexual encounter with. One caveat may be that if a young guy is fresh out of prison he may be a little sensitive to gay advances. But this looks to me like a rough trick, and given the level of violence (Barrett was smashed in the head and stabbed 35 times in the neck) I’m going to put forward that his previous “relationship” with Barrett was not simply professional.

What demons drove Richard Barrett? Greed clearly. But maybe lust and depravity played into it too. Perhaps Barrett, whose separatism did not work its way into his personal life, was turned on by the homoerotic trappings of White Nationalism with its anger and militancy and the sado-masochistic undertones of racial supremacy. Or maybe he’s just a degenerate who conned suckers out of money to pay for the affection of young men. Neither of these things means he deserved a violent death, but they certainly contributed to the likelihood of him being victimized.

Three other people have been arrested in connection with this murder, all as accessories after the fact. make of that what you will. Since one is the father I put forward that guilt for not protecting his son in that past from something may have driven his involvement.

A few people have forwarded me this story concerned that this heralds some sort of Vice Lord vs neo-Nazi war. I wouldn’t worry. Though the Vice Lords are a “People’s Nation” affiliated gang which includes gangs that are known to be racist (like the Bloods), it also included White gangs like The Gaylords (now almost defunct) and multi-ethnic gangs like The Latin Kings so the Vice Lords (while extremely dangerous) are unlikely to participate in race based warfare and no large White Nationalist group has sufficient respect for Barrett to care.

On an ironic note, the neo-Nazi forum Stormfront has a thread where the scum there (who once celebrated a man who murdered his wife) actually claim they’re happy he died. That thread confirms that Barrett was known in the White Power community as a closeted homosexual.

“Had they gotten inside the church, I don’t know what would’ve been done,” Rev. Larry Cox, Pastor of Homeland Park Baptist Church said.

He stood inside the church nursery where there was a smashed glass window which had to be boarded. Deputies with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said it was all done by two boys, a 13 and 14 years old.

“I do want them to know that I don’t hate them. We can’t hate children and would like for them to get their lives straightened out,” Cox said.

Investigators said the two boys first broke into a shed at the church’s family life center.

“We believe that they broke the glass out and got that diesel fuel that they used to try and set the school on fire with it,” said youth minister, Jason Lingefelt.

He said he got the call Monday morning around 4:00 a.m. and rushed over. He said a five-gallon diesel canister was swiped from the shed.

[...]

Investigators said that’s when the boys walked about a mile to Homeland Park Elementary School and tried to set it on fire.

“I woke up, it was about 3:00 a.m. ., but it was all quiet out here then, ” said Boyce Baughn, who lives next door to the school.

However, investigators said that’s not the case and they found burned pieces of paper and church tithing envelopes at the scene.

“It’s Homeland Park, it’s just wild down here,” Leslie Day, another neighbor said.

Indeed. A 13 and 14-year-old wandering around in the wee hours of the morning should not only have raised eyebrows, but maybe led to a police report when the parents noticed their little darlings were missing. Granted kids like to sneak out, but I’m going to assume that by the time your kids work their way up to burning churches and elementary schools there may have been some signs that you needed to keep a closer eye on them.

Greenville Online is reporting that each of the boys are facing second-degree arson charges and three counts of second-degree burglary.

The Independent Mail is reporting an interesting fact that may mean the kids weren’t as malevolent as the case makes them sound:

The fire alarm inside the storage room was pulled around 2:30 a.m., according to the report.

[...]

“After they tried to start the fire at the school and pulled the alarm, it looks like they ran over to the church,” Tribble said. “Apparently, they broke into the family life center there, where they tried to start another fire. People driving by the church saw them trying to break in to another building on the church property and called 911. That’s when the deputies found the boys and took them into custody.”

Pulling alarms seems like a ploy to ensure the fires don’t get out of control. On the other hand the same report goes on to claim the kids are being looked at for other fires.

WSPA has has video.

Hmmm. Two teens out late at night doing something stupid? Anyone think maybe drugs and alcohol were involved?

Firefighters said they arrived at the intersection of Augusta and Potomac roads at about 6:15 a.m. and found a truck ablaze. The truck belonged to Furniture Market Place. They said that the cause of the fire was suspicious.

Police said that a man was arrested shortly after officers arrived at the scene.

The tires were slashed on another truck belonging to the store.  The identity of the suspect is not available at this time.

The fire destroyed the home and is considered “suspicious,” Laurens County Sheriff Ricky Chastain told News Channel 7.

One of the deceased has been identified as Lisa Rae Creta, 46, owner of the Summersett subdivision home destroyed in the blaze.  The second body has been tentatively identified as her husband of 20 years, 48-year-old Robert Frank Creta Jr.

News Channel 7 reports:

The coroner’s office believes she died around 3 a.m on Saturday. The coroner says she died of multiple gun shot wounds to the head.  Her last known employer was the U.S. Justice Department of Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Ellis says the man has been tentatively identified as 48 year old Robert Frank Creta Jr.  The coroner’s office estimates the death happened around 5 a.m Saturday. Ellis says he died due to a gun shot wound to the head and the injury was consistent with being self inflicted.  Creta’s last known employer was the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms).

A 4-year-old pitbull/lab mix was also found at the home near Furman University.  The animal had died from multiple gun shot wounds.

WPSA reports on the story this way:

Investigators from the Greenville County Sheriff’s office and the State Law Enforcement Division are at the scene of a house fire that has killed two people in Greenville County.

According to authorities, firefighters from the Duncan Chapel Fire Department responded to a fire around 7 am at a home at 1 Belle Terre Ct., in the Summerset Manor sub-division, near Furman University. Authorities with the Greenville County coroner’s office tell News Channel 7 that two people have died as a result of the fire.

Greenville County Sheriff’s spokesperson Melissia McKinney, says that when officers arrived at the scene, the home was fully engulfed in flames. McKinney says that they have not determined a cause of the fire, but arson investigators from the Sheriff’s Office are at the scene and investigators from the State Law Enforcement Division are assisting in the investigation.

A source close to the investigation tells News Channel 7 that the cause of the fire is “suspicious” in nature.

More importantly they provide this fact that makes foul play seem probable:

Neighbors say the couple had just moved in about three months ago. “When people perish in a fire it can just really hit you. They don’t really seem to have a chance to get out,“ Penny Bostain said about her neighbors. Bostain says the couple walked their dog several times a day.

A couple in their 40s with a dog who they’re used to walking several times a day seem unlikely to have slept through a blaze until it was too late. Dog owners know that a dog is quick to warn owners of what it perceives as danger, and always willing to wake up a couple when they want something. Though they could all simply have been heavy sleepers.

Greenville Online is also reporting that the fire was suspicious and that there’s been an increase in fire deaths state wide, which if course is unlikely to be related, but The Greenville News likes to keep you on your toes by putting trivia into their reports.

WYFF, however, is more cautious, noting that arson investigations are standard procedure for any fire related death. Reporters for Fox Carolina have not updated their original report which states that officials were not calling the fire suspicious.

Update, December 7, 2009: [The Greenville County Coroner's Office has ruled the deaths a homicide/suicide.  Please see our latest report for details.]

From Fox Carolina:

GREENVILLE, S.C. — The charges against the co-owners of Genesis Press in connection with a fire at the plant last year were dismissed with leave to restore, Solicitor Bob Ariail said on Monday.

Christopher Petrone and Lawrence Kudeviz were each charged with second-degree arson and making a false insurance claim to obtain benefits in September in connection with the March 29, 2008 fire.

[...]

Ariail said in a statement Monday that the charges against Petrone and Kudeviz were dismissed so that the civil litigation could move forward and allow all parties to testify under oath. He said that the testimony from the civil hearings will be reviewed and the charges could be pursued again based on that information.

And of course charges against James Guzzy, Kudeviz’s brother-in-law, are still pending. He’s facing 2nd degree arson and 2nd degree burglary for the same fire.