Hate American Made ////// The White Supremacist

Summary

True Crime Garage: "Hate American Made — The White Supremacist" Episode Summary

Release Date: April 1, 2025

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1. Introduction to the Episode

In this gripping episode of True Crime Garage, hosts Nick and Captain delve deep into the life and crimes of Richard Wayne Snell, a notorious white supremacist whose extremist activities spanned decades. The episode, titled "Hate American Made — The White Supremacist," unpacks Snell's journey from his early affiliations to his eventual downfall, providing listeners with a comprehensive look into the mind of a hate-driven criminal.

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2. Understanding Hate and White Supremacy

The episode begins with an analytical discussion on the nature of hate, emphasizing that it is a learned behavior rather than an innate emotion. Captain elucidates:

"Hate is actually a learned behavior shaped by factors like fear, anger, and social conditioning... Hate often stems from the idea that certain groups should have power or control over others."
[02:00]

This foundational understanding sets the stage for exploring how hate fuels extremist ideologies and actions.

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3. Profile of Richard Wayne Snell

Richard Wayne Snell, born on May 21, 1930, in either Iowa or Oklahoma, is introduced as a man whose life was deeply entrenched in white supremacist beliefs. Despite his early training in ministry, Snell never pursued a conventional career, instead immersing himself in extremist organizations. Captain provides insight into Snell's background:

"Snell was too warped and wrapped up in his nefarious activities to hold down a conventional 9 to 5 job."
[05:09]

Snell's personal life, including his marriage to Mary Jo Snell and their three children, remains largely obscured, overshadowed by his extremist pursuits.

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4. Snell’s Activities and Extremist Affiliations

Snell was a prominent member of several white supremacist groups, most notably the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA). His affiliations extended to Elohim City, a secluded enclave in Oklahoma known for harboring various hate groups. Nick highlights Snell's deep-rooted involvement:

"Snell was a believer in what some call Christian identity... he became an avowed white separatist."
[07:15]

These affiliations provided Snell with a network of like-minded individuals, facilitating his criminal endeavors and extremist activities.

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5. The Mena Airport Conspiracy

One of the more intriguing aspects of Snell's activities was his suspicion of the Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport in Arkansas. Snell believed the CIA was using the airport for illegal drug smuggling operations. Captain recounts:

"Richard Snell was ahead of the curve as he was very suspicious of a potential government-sanctioned drug smuggling operation years prior."
[10:30]

Despite his claims, official investigations, including a report by the CIA's inspector general, found no evidence of illicit activities at the airport. Snell's accusations extended to high-profile figures like then-Governor Bill Clinton, alleging a massive government cover-up—a claim that lacked substantiation.

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6. Plans to Attack Federal Buildings

Snell's anti-government sentiments culminated in elaborate plans to overthrow the U.S. government. Alongside associates like James Ellison and Steve Scott, Snell devised schemes to assassinate federal officials and bomb key government buildings. Nick draws parallels between Snell's plans and the infamous 9/11 attacks:

"Richard Snell and the guys at Elohim City... it's really serious stuff because their plan is... to assassinate a few high up officials... and to blow up some of these federal buildings."
[44:34]

Their blueprint included the design of rocket launchers intended to devastate the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. However, a failed practice run, where a rocket launcher malfunctioned, led Snell and his cohorts to interpret the incident as divine intervention, prompting them to abandon their plans.

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7. The 1984 Shooting of Officer Bryant

In 1984, Snell's violent tendencies culminated in the tragic shooting of Officer Lewis Bryant, an African American state trooper in Arkansas. Captain narrates the harrowing event:

"When the trooper approached Snell's vehicle, Snell got out and shot him multiple times... Officer Bryant was a young man with a young family."
[36:34]

A witness, a trucker, pursued Snell to Broken Bow, Oklahoma, leading to a gunbattle. Snell was critically injured, sustaining six gunshot wounds, but survived and was subsequently arrested. The incident underscored the lethal consequences of Snell's hatred and extremist beliefs.

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8. Snell’s Trial and Conviction

Snell faced multiple charges, including the murder of Officer Bryant and the earlier killing of William Stump, a pawn shop owner whom Snell murdered during a robbery in 1983. The trial was swift:

"One of the trials lasted three days, and the jury only deliberated for a mere 15 minutes before convicting him."
[63:14]

With testimonies from Snell's former associates, who received reduced sentences in exchange for cooperating, the jury recommended the death penalty. Despite appeals citing procedural errors, Snell's conviction and death sentence were upheld, sealing his fate.

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9. Conclusion

The episode concludes by reflecting on the broader implications of Snell's actions and the pervasive threat of extremist ideologies. Captain emphasizes the importance of law enforcement's role in apprehending such individuals:

"How many more people would he have killed... How many lives would this dude have taken out?"
[60:48]

Nick and Captain underscore the necessity of vigilance and the relentless pursuit of justice to prevent hate-fueled crimes from tarnishing society.

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Notable Quotes

• Captain on hate as a learned behavior:

  "Hate is actually a learned behavior shaped by factors like fear, anger, and social conditioning... Hate often stems from the idea that certain groups should have power or control over others."
  [02:00]

• Nick on Snell's neglect of presenting evidence:

  "But the problem with Snell's story here is... he has never produced this footage to show anybody."
  [14:30]

• Captain on Snell's distrust of government:

  "Snell was driven by hatred and white separatism. He was determined to commit heinous crimes."
  [20:28]

• Nick on the consequences of extremist actions:

  "Either way, the guy's evil. Pile of shit."
  [62:56]

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Final Thoughts

"Hate American Made — The White Supremacist" serves as a sobering exploration of how entrenched hate and extremist ideologies can drive individuals to commit heinous crimes. Through meticulous research and poignant discussions, True Crime Garage sheds light on the dark corridors of white supremacy, offering listeners both awareness and cautionary tales of the depths of human malice.

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For more true crime stories and in-depth analyses, visit True Crime Garage and subscribe to stay updated on upcoming episodes.

Transcript

[Steve Buscemi]

Hi, this is Steve Buscemi. You know the actor. Well, now I'm an actor and podcast host from Piece of Work Entertainment and Campside Media in association with Olive Productions comes Big Time, an Apple Original Podcast. Each episode follows the story of one misfit with big dreams who isn't afraid to bend a few rules or take a shortcut to get there.

[Nick]

Well, who steals bees? I was duped.

[Captain]

I shoot you in the leg.

[Steve Buscemi]

This is Big Time. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.

[Nick]

By.

[Captain]

An Unspeakable Act Hate the apocalypse would occur soon. More white supremacist groups. More anti government groups David Koresh Ruby ridge siege Timothy McVeigh More than 80 people dead bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City eight by an unspeakable act. There is so little hope left.

[Colonel]

Hate While often perceived as an inherent emotion, hate is actually a learned behavior shaped by factors like fear, anger, and social conditioning. Rather than emerging naturally, it's rooted in issues of power and control and can be fueled by negative stereotypes and dehumanization. Hate is not instinctive or universal. It develops over time through experiences and social influences. Hate often stems from the idea that certain groups should have power or control over others. These ideas are often rooted in historical power dynamics and can be reinforced by societal structures. Hate is frequently triggered by a sense of personal threat or vulnerability, which can lead to the dehumanization of others. Negative stereotypes about certain groups can contribute to the development of hate. These stereotypes can become stronger during times of crisis, leading to increased prejudice and discrimination. Hate itself is not a crime. Hate is a feeling, an emotion. But hate very easily can and often does become criminal. A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism, with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person or.

[Captain]

Property motivated in whole or in part.

[Colonel]

By an offender's bias against race, religion, disability, social orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity. As part of its responsibility to uphold the civil rights of the American people, the FBI takes a number of steps to combat hate crimes. This role increased dramatically following the passage of the Civil Rights act of 1964. These days, words like Nazi or racist get probably more usage than necessary over usage of words with powerful meanings diminishes the strength and importance of those words. This presentation is a collage of several true crime stories, all that have some connective tissue and are essentially crimes and murders that have influence over other crimes, crimes and murders. Hate is a true crime story that spans decades. When you hear the term right wing. Do note that it is followed by the more powerful word in the phrase which is extremist or extremists in this great country. We of course have left and right politics and political views, but we are not talking about the right wing in the traditional sense. We are talking about the very furthest of the far uber far right and very extreme, some of which is extreme right terrorism. Terrorism that is motivated by ultranationalism, neo Nazism, anti communism, neo fascism, religious nationalism, anti Semitism, anti government sentiment, and occasionally it can be motivated by opposition to abortion and homophobia. All which is hate, pure and simple. This is true crime garage and this is hate American made.

[Captain]

Richard Wayne Snell, who was known as Wayne to his friends and associates, was born on May 21, 1930 in either Iowa or Oklahoma. Sources vary on his place of birth. This is just one of several aspects of this man's life that remains a mystery still to this day. Richard Snell's parents were Charles Edwin Snell, a pastor of the Church of Nazarene, and Mary Jane Snell. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas notes that young Richard Snell underwent some training in ministry, but never actually practiced. Instead, he became increasingly involved in various extremist organizations. Snell was a believer in what some call Christian identity, which sounds like something nice, but Christian identity states that the only true chosen people of God are those of Germanic or Celtic descent. Snell became an avowed white separatist. Sources report that Richard and his wife, Mary Jo Snell, had three children. There is little information available about the couple beyond the supposition that Mary Jo shared her husband's extremist views, and along with that, she apparently supported his activities, illegal and otherwise. And Richard Snell was up to a lot of activities, that is for sure, but of those activities that did not seem to include having a job. He seems to have been too warped and wrapped up in his nefarious activities to hold down a conventional 9 to 5 job at any point in his adult life. Instead, his time was mostly occupied by being a white supremacist and a member of several paramilitary anti Semitic extremist militia groups, most notably the Covenant, the Sword and Arm of the Lord, often referred to as the csa. Richard Snell apparently made a living by committing violent crimes, most which were carried out while heavily armed with illegal weapons. Then there was this hobby of his. During his time living in Arkansas, Richard Snell was involved in the filming of planes at Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport in Polk County, Arkansas. Believing that the CIA was smuggling drugs into this country and using the MENA airport to facilitate the operation. Now, you won't hear us defending this man much during our garage presentation. However, in Richard Snell's defense, he certainly was not the only one who suspected that strange things were afoot at the MENA airport. In fact, over the years there have been a number of allegations about the use of MENA Intermountain Municipal Airport as a CIA drop point in a large scale cocaine trafficking operation. These theories gained momentum in the latter part of the 1980s. Richard Snell, however, was ahead of the curve as he was very suspicious of a potential government sanctioned drug smuggling operation years prior. These are rumors that included allegations of not only awareness, but participation and or a cover up involving prominent figures such as Reagan administration officials, the then governor Bill Clinton, and Saline county prosecutor Dan Harmon. Some of you may recognize the name Dan Harmon from our story many years back. A story that some say has shaped the garage into what it is today. That story is Boys on the tracks. Episodes 93, 94, 95 and 96. Salon County Prosecutor Dan Harmon appeared to try to be helping the families of Don Henry and Kevin Ives, two murdered teenage boys who someone likely, someone's plural, attempted to cover up their murders by placing the boys bodies on the train tracks so that the train would destroy all evidence, which sadly has worked. The murders of Don Henry and Kevin Ives are still unsolved to this day. And I believe several persons are responsible for covering up those murders as well as covering up the witnessed activities that led to the murders. Saline county prosecutor Dan Harmon was later convicted of numerous felonies including drug possession with intent to distribute, racketeering, conspiracy and extortion charges. This all in 1997.

[Nick]

There were several investigations into these claims. But then you have to question who is investigating these claims.

[Captain]

Yeah, that's interesting to ponder there Captain, because while you have the civilians stating that we think that this is going on and these are rumored allegations that the government, our government, is involved in illegal activity. But then essentially it's government agencies investigating themselves, which is always very dicey. So we have several local, state and federal investigations that did take place in relation to these allegations. The MENA airport topic has received some press coverage over the years. So this is not something that was kept under wraps or that's very hush hush. An investigation by the CIA's inspector general concluded that the CIA had no involvement in or knowledge of any illegal activities that may have occurred at mena. The report said that the agency had conducted a training exercise at the airport in partnership with another federal agency. And that companies located at the airport had performed routine aviation related services on equipment owned by the CIA. So they're, they're openly stating, yes, we did have activity there, we were active at this airport, however, we were not doing anything illegal. And we had our higher ups come in to double check everything to confirm this finding. As we said here, Captain Richard Snell was a bit ahead of the curve here on his suspicions about the possible activities going on, illegal activities going on at the Mena airport in the early 80s. He claimed that powerful government figures, including the then governor Bill Clinton, were involved in a massive cover up. So he is there actively filming activity at the Mena airport. And his claims don't stop there with regards to the intermountain airport, as he also maintained to have filmed Clinton at the airport. And later he would claim that a state trooper that was part of Clinton's security detail had beaten his wife Mary Jo in an attempt to locate and confiscate the footage. So he's saying, not only did I film activity there.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

Not only did I film the governor present there, which it wouldn't be uncommon for a governor to be at any airport, especially an airport within their state. But I think what he's saying here is this is proof that there's illegal activity going on here. And not only that, a cover up as well, because they sent muscle to my house, my home, and threatened or physically harmed my wife when she wouldn't turn over the film or the footage that he took.

[Nick]

Right. Which would be illegal for them to do.

[Captain]

Exactly. But again, this is an unsubstantiated claim.

[Nick]

He doesn't have this confrontation on film.

[Captain]

He didn't film this confrontation.

[Nick]

But the other problem with this individual is when he has ideology that aligns with that of Nazi ism. Right. You go, yes, that paints him with a certain type of brush.

[Captain]

Yes. And we will get into some of his involvement and activities that suggest. Well, not just suggest that they outwardly state that he was someone that wanted the desire to overthrow the government. So to be out there making claims like this that would take down certain government officials would go along with that agenda.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

And look, I'm not saying that he never filmed anything at Mena. I'm not even willing to say that there wasn't illegal activity that took place at Mena and that some of our government agencies knew about it, because I'm a little suspicious of that myself. However, the problem with Snell's story here is, Captain, that this was the early 80s, a lot of time has expired since then, he has never produced this footage to show anybody of the supposed illegal activity that he was filming.

[Nick]

Well, like you said, a president or a governor or anybody involved in the government can be seen at an airport. And that doesn't mean they're doing anything illegal.

[Captain]

They might just be traveling. Richard Snell was a known member of the Covenant, the Sword and Arm of the Lord. We have already mentioned his involvement and commitment to the csa. But what is the Covenant, the Sword and Arm of the Lord, or csa? It's a paramilitary anti Semitic white supremacist group that was founded in 1971 in Missouri by James D. Ellison and had roots in hatred and racism. It was through the CSA and at Elohim City that Richard Snell met James Ellison. Richard Snell was considered to be a regular visitor of Elohim City while James Ellison was a resident. Elohim City is a private community in Adair County, Oklahoma. Now, it's a large property, a large community. It's about 400 acres. It's a rural retreat founded in 1973 by Robert Mylar, a Canadian immigrant, former Mennonite, and quote, one of the most important leaders, end quote, in America's Christian identity movement. And again, that's not a good thing, as it is an extremist group and a hate group. This community was closed to the public, especially closed off to the government and any government agencies, but seemed to welcome members of other hate and some extremist groups. So as long as that, they shared some of the same beliefs and practices.

[Nick]

It's almost like these individuals cloak all their beliefs under this umbrella of Christianity to almost cover up the fact that their beliefs are so ridiculous and so.

[Captain]

Full of hate, ignorant and backwards too. And I think what the idea is, and maybe they're just too backwards to know this, and it's been handed down generation after generation. And so they. They do what they know or they do what they were taught. But we've seen this throughout history. We don't just see this in this country. We've seen it all around the world for decades, nay, centuries. Use the Bible to prove your point. Use the Bible to tell others I'm right and you all are wrong.

[Nick]

Yeah, or use your religion, because it's not just Christianity, obviously.

[Captain]

Look, I read the Bible on occasion. I'm a believer.

[Nick]

Truth comes out. You like Justin Bieber.

[Captain]

But I do want to remind. I always remind people that book was written by humans. And I'm yet to meet a perfect one. And a lot of it too, is left open to interpretation. So to, to, to use this and to wave it high and to say, and point to the Bible and say this is why I'm right and you are wrong. I think is, is, is a bit backwards in itself.

[Nick]

Well, let's move on from this because the only thing that I hate talking about more than politics is religion.

[Captain]

Well, it's going to be tough because we're going to get a heavy dose of it in and out of parts of this story and as it relates to Richard Snell and it's more so to do with some of the hate groups and extremist groups that he was in and out of and intertwined with. But this Elohim City is really, I mean we could have done multiple episodes on this community by itself. Now we should point out here that this community gained national attention for its ties to members of the Order of a group called the order in the 1980s. And this was a community that certain government agencies were more than well aware of. In fact, they were attempting to infiltrate this community by sending in people that had like minded views and opinions. But they would sign them up to be informants to get them to turn and to basically provide intel as to what they were, what was going on within this, this closed off community.

[Nick]

But could you imagine if you're a government official or you're in law enforcement and they tell you, hey Captain, we got an assignment for you. We're going to send you in to hang out with this group on this 400 acre farm. You're going to love it.

[Captain]

To be perfectly frank with, with you here, Captain and everyone, I am very much a live and let live kind of person. Even if you have hate in your heart and, and you are dumb and backwards and ignorant and you have these beliefs I don't particularly have, I don't have a high opinion of you, but I also don't have a strong opinion of you at all. One way or the other. As long as you're not out there hurting anyone, go off and do your thing, build your own little community. As long as you aren't harming anyone or hurting anyone, go do your thing. That part of it doesn't bother me. So I can't stand bullies. It's really a tricky thing here. But one thing that I always keep in mind in regard to this, it always bothers me like the kids that are born, born into these families, right?

[Nick]

Because.

[Captain]

And the kids that are born into these communities, like you're not born into this world feeling that way.

[Nick]

Absolutely not. And I think that's where it becomes different. Like you said, if you want to have these ignorant thoughts and you want to just be alone out in the woods with your ignorant thoughts and you're not hurting anybody, then go be an idiot out in the woods by yourself. Once a child's involved, now you're actually harming an individual. And that's where, whether it's your own child or somebody else's child, I don't think anybody should stand for that.

[Captain]

You're controlling their thoughts. At some point, Snell also formed ties with other separatist groups, such as the Aryan Nation and the group we just mentioned, the Order. Beyond all of that, Snell was incredibly distrustful of all forms of US Government. He was anti establishment and anti government and very pro whatever the hell he wanted to do. Richard Snell was driven by hatred and white separatism. He was determined to commit heinous crimes. And even though he had ties to all of these hate groups, he was considered back in his time as something of a lone wolf in that he operated autonomously. He was. He was using these groups and in and out of these groups, of course, but he considered this Elohim City as his home base.

[Nick]

Was he like a Charles Manson type where he thought by doing hateful actions, this would start some kind of race war? I mean, did he have an agenda?

[Captain]

He had an agenda, but he didn't have followers, and he didn't desire, I think, to have followers. He wasn't the type that was out to want to be a leader and control a community. He wanted to get involved. And unfortunately. So he was the type that he. He desired to overthrow the government, that there would be no government.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

And as crazy as it sounds, I've been thinking, I've had to been forced to think like Richard Snell in ways all week long. And one. One thing that really opened up my eyes is him in these other types that are like him don't. Yes, they single out the US Government. So we go, oh, man, how could they be against the US Government? And look, look, our government's not perfect.

[Nick]

We know that that's an understatement.

[Captain]

But these are the types that, regardless of where they were born, where they were brought up, in all likelihood, they would hate whatever government that they lived under.

[Nick]

Right?

[Captain]

Not just our government. They hate all forms of government. And so his agenda that you were asking about his agenda, Captain, his agenda was for no government, to overthrow the government. And while he didn't desire to be a leader and really didn't desire to have to band together with an army full of people to carry out his agenda. Unfortunately, it was a very uphill battle that he was facing and it would force him to have to band together with others.

[Nick]

Well Richard, you can't just be playing all by yourself. You're gonna have to find some evil.

[Captain]

We talked about banding together with others. Let's talk about Richard Snell wouldn't go on to be the only notorious person that that frequented or lived at Elam City. So here are just some of the other air quotes. Wonderful residents who either stayed or lived at Elohim City. We have George Eaton, who is the founder of Present Truth Ministries and publisher slash editor of an extreme right wing anti Semitic newsletter called the Patriot Report. We have James Ellison, who we've already talked about. He was a white supremacist, leader of the Covenant, the sword and the arm of the Lord. We have Michael Fortier, an army Buddy of Timothy McVeigh, domestic terrorist who eventually Michael was imprisoned for failing to warn authorities about the Oklahoma City bombing. We have Chevy Kehoe, a self proclaimed white supremacist and convicted murderer. He and an accomplice wiped out a family in Arkansas, including killing a kid who was just 8 years old. All of this just to steal a large quantity of guns and ammunition. We have Willie Ray Lampley, a self proclaimed prophet, leader of the now defunct Oklahoma Constitutional Militia and the head of the Universal Church of God. We have Farron Earl Loveless, convicted in a separate case of murdering a man he believed was a federal informant. And we also have Dennis Mahan, a former Imperial Dragon in the Oklahoma Ku Klux Klan and an organizer for White Aryan resistance. So no shortage of losers there at Elham City. Robert Mylar, the founder of Elohim City, declared that the leader of the Covenant, the sword and the arm of the Lord, James Ellison, was a prophet full of vision who would unite the attending groups of Elohim City so they could do battle with the so called Zionist Occupied Government or ZOG as they called it. That is the US Federal government or the Beast as many called our government. It's spring break time or maybe you are already planning your summer vacation. Vacation season is here this year. Treat yourself to the luxe upgrades you deserve with Quince's high quality travel essentials at fair prices like lightweight European linen styles from $30, washable silk tops and comfy lounge sets. Pair it with premium luggage options and stylish tote bags to carry it all. The best part, all Quint's Items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they have partnered directly with top factories, cutting out the cost of the middleman and passing the savings on to us. This year I need to upgrade my luggage situation. So here it is. It's easy. I go to quince.com I click on the Travel tab and I scroll down and I browse all of the fantastic carry on and check in suitcases that they have available at great prices and great styles. They also have packing cubes and toiletry bags. Everything you can think of for travel essentials. I think I'm going to get me one of the front pocket carry on hard shell suitcases 21 inch for your next trip, treat yourself to the luxe upgrades you deserve from quince. Go to quince.com garage for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q U I n c e.com garage to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com garage you all know what speed dating is, right? Well, if you're the owner of a growing business, what if there was a feature like speed dating only for hiring? In other words, you could meet several.

[Colonel]

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[Colonel]

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[Captain]

Cheers to you Captain. Just to be clear, our garage is not out in the middle of nowhere in some strange community founded by two guys. Two guys that talk true crime in a garage. We just want to throw that out. There we are in parts unknown. Now remember Richard Snell? He just stayed there off and on and considered this to be his home base for his anti government, anti establishment operations. The very basics of what he was about. Richard Snell wanted to overthrow the government by way of force. Some who knew him would later describe Richard Snell as a paranoid type. He and his wife Mary Jo were reclusive and Kept to themselves, preferring isolation instead of social interaction. The Snell family lived in the town of Mewes, Oklahoma. They were known as survivalists. They lived on a remote 80 acre military style camp on the edge of a national forest. Snell exhibited a strong propensity for violence and was known for his stockpiling of various deadly weapons and explosives.

[Nick]

So where is he getting money though?

[Captain]

I think he's getting his money by being involved with these different groups. And they are regularly involved in illegal activities.

[Nick]

Not just that, but I'm sure these groups have like you just listed a bunch of people and the bad things they did or they believe. All a part of this land, right? This 400 some acres of evil, basically. But I guarantee you there's a big list of names that help fund all this.

[Captain]

Yes, absolutely. There's probably people donating money, some sort of fundraising efforts. But keep in mind too, if you're anti government, then your illegal activities, to you, they're not illegal activities. You're just doing whatever you want. The government has no right to tell you what you can and cannot do in the eyes of these people.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

And a lot of what these people are doing because they are, we said, a paranoid type. But if you talk to a lot of these different groups, one of, one of the things that's kind of an underlining belief within a lot of these groups is that the end is near, the end is coming, and it will happen during my lifetime. And the people that are prepared will survive. Yeah, the families that prepare and fortify themselves and teach themselves to live off the land, those will be the people that survive. The others that didn't prepare, failing to prepare is preparing to fail, as a lot of people would say. And so those people will not survive. And so one thing that a lot of these guys and these groups are doing, it's the, it's basically stealing guns and weapons. And once you steal them, then you have to fund your lifestyle, fund your group, fund staying alive, just your everyday life, your day to day. A lot of times they're selling these weapons illegally too, but also stockpiling at the same time.

[Nick]

But obviously these guys are idiots because they're not in Pawnee, Indiana. Hail Zorp.

[Captain]

Well, and yes, and idiots too. Look, you want to overthrow the government or really throw a wrench in things, why not infiltrate from the inside, right? Why not educate yourself and, and put yourself in a position where you are in the government and, and work it and collapse it from the inside. In the late 70s and early 80s, Richard Snow became increasingly Radicalized. Reportedly engaging in several contentious interactions with various governmental agencies, particularly the Internal Revenue Service, the irs. Now, we can joke here, as the IRS is not typically at the top of anyone's favorite government entities list.

[Nick]

I don't think anybody likes the IRS unless you work for the irs.

[Captain]

Yeah, True Crime Garage, we're gonna come out with IRS shirts really soon. But for a man like Richard Snell, with ever increasing hate in his heart, his heart still had plenty of room for extra hate for the irs. This is according to Snell, because the agency raided his home in 1983. Now, 1983 is going to be a very busy year for Mr. Richard Snell. As said, the IRS raided his home, and ultimately they took his land, throwing Snell, the wife and kids out for various violations and infractions. Snell started staying at Elom City, or City of God, or God City, as it was also called.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

He also was staying from time to time at Hayden Lake in Idaho. At Hayden Lake, there was another wonderful group of people. This is the Aryan Nations. Please hear the sarcasm in my voice there. Richard Snell was buddies with Richard Gernt Butler, who was the old Gurnt. Old Gurnt, who was the chief of the Aryan Nations, a neo Nazi umbrella organization for white supremacist groups based in Hayden Lake, Idaho.

[Nick]

Well, with the name like Gernt, you're gonna hate a lot of people.

[Captain]

Well, and it's a shame that these people find each other so easily.

[Nick]

Yeah. But I'm trying to wrap my head around how they recruit. But think about this. Hey, come out to my lake house, sip on some cocktails. Hey, want to get away? We got a 400 acre retreat. You start hanging out there, and you're going, hey, this is pretty nice. Pretty nice. I feel relaxed. And then they start telling you about the government and how much they hate it. And also, anybody that doesn't look like us, we hate them, too.

[Captain]

Well, then this next part you're really not going to like. So in late night meetings, the leaders at Hayden Lake discussed how to topple the government, using as a source book the Turner Diaries, which is an extremist novel that envisions the government's overthrow by paramilitary groups who then systematically kill Jews and blacks.

[Nick]

I thought it was the Ike and Tina story.

[Captain]

Richard Snell, James Ellison and others were working on plans to assassinate federal officials in Arkansas, bomb federal buildings in various locations, and bomb the Dallas office of a Jewish organization.

[Nick]

But think about this for a second. What if you disliked the lake house? Right. And now you're just pretending to believe in all this other stuff. So you can go camping and hiking, and they. They start telling you about their deeper, darker plans, and you have to just kind of pretend to go along with it. So you can have the family go out to the. The cabin for the weekend.

[Captain]

Yeah. Sipping drinks by the lake. And then you hear these guys start talking. It's like, man, somebody must have put something in the weed out here.

[Nick]

These guys are high, but not in a good way.

[Captain]

Richard Snell and a man named Steve Scott. This is a man who we will hear more of as we continue with our true crime story here. They asked this James Ellison, the leader of the csa, to design a rocket launcher that could be used to destroy federal buildings from a distance. And they did reconnaissance. They would go on driving trips to some of the different federal buildings and go inside the building and check the building out. And on one trip in particular, Richard Snell sent James Ellison to the federal building in Oklahoma City to gauge what it would take to destroy this building.

[Nick]

Great.

[Captain]

This was the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was a United States federal government complex located at 200 Northwest 5th street in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The building was designed by architects from Locke Wright and Associates and constructed by J.W. bates & Co. Using reinforced concrete at a cost of over $14 million. The building is named for Federal Judge Alfred P. Murrah, an Oklahoma native, and the building opened for operations in 1977. Over the years, the building would eventually contain regional offices for several government entities, including the Social Security Administration, the U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development, the United States Secret Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling center, the Drug Enforcement Administration, or the dea, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the atf.

[Nick]

Now, are these just branches of that? Because it.

[Captain]

Correct.

[Nick]

Right. So it's just the branch of that. Because I'm sure we have branches of these organizations, obviously in Washington.

[Captain]

Yes. So, like, the FBI will call it field offices. If you go to any major city, there will be an FBI field office located there, like St. Louis, Columbus, Ohio, probably Oklahoma City as well.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

This is just as you said. These are government federal agencies. So they have to operate throughout the course of our entire country nationwide. And so because of that, they need to have people in different locations, and they often operate just in major cities. So this building contained recruiting offices for the US military. It housed approximately 550 employees, plus kids, as it also housed a child, a children's daycare center. Snell openly expressed A desire to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Snell was bitter toward the government because of the irs, specifically agents from the Oklahoma City office, and because they had taken him to court and his property had been seized by the FBI and other agents in a raid. After the reconnaissance trips, the extremists led by Snell made preliminary sketches and drawings. Rocket launchers were to be placed in a trailer or a van so that it could be driven up to a given spot, parked there, and a timed detonating device could be triggered so that the driver could walk away and leave the vehicle set in position, and he would have time to clear the area before any of the rockets were launched. They were attempting to design something like this to fit in either a trailer or a van or even a panel truck. So to place a vehicle near the federal building and basically shoot rockets into it, shoot missiles into it, to blow up the building.

[Nick]

So they have these detailed plans on what they think will work to help them take down the government. But they changed their plans.

[Captain]

Yeah. So I want to simplify this and maybe talk about it in a way that people of our generation could understand because we weren't around.

[Nick]

You are the voice of a generation.

[Captain]

There we go, the garage generation. Think of 9 11, okay? This is not this plan that they've come up with these, these crazy white guys. This is not really very different from what the terrorists were attempting to do with 9 11. In fact, one could suggest maybe they even got the idea from these guys. So with 9 11, the idea was, hey, we'll hijack these four planes, we'll fly one into the Pentagon. Destroying the Pentagon and all of the higher ups, the defense and all that for this country will destroy all that with the Pentagon. We'll fly a plane into the White House, hopefully killing a whole bunch of higher ups and leaders of this great free world. And then we will fly two planes into the World Trade Centers, which will then buckle and collapse the financial industry of our country. Right? So really all you're trying to do is destroy and kill higher ups, destroy buildings and high, and kill higher ups so that you send this whole country into chaos.

[Nick]

Right?

[Captain]

And then they would be able to easily take them over after the fact. This is as, as dumb as some of their ideas sound here. Richard Snell and all the guys at Elum City. It's, it's really serious stuff because their plan is let's, let's execute. Let's assassinate a few high up officials in, in certain parts of the country, in certain states let's blow up some of these federal buildings, and then we will put parts of this country into complete chaos, and we can start to amass land and gather people and create our own army.

[Nick]

Well, yeah, and I think the word is disruption, right? And I think the other thing about this is if you target. Target these types of buildings and these types of officials, and like what we were saying earlier, this is just a branch of these entities with inside the government. But that would also disrupt maybe the actions of other individuals, other authorities in other locations. It might alter how they react or act going forward, or maybe not act at all out of fear that they're next.

[Captain]

Well, and you had mentioned that, you know, you'd like to not have to hear so much about the Bible or about God, especially with stories like this. But here is where God might have been on our side, my friend, because they decided to not go forward with their rocket launcher plans with the federal building in Oklahoma City. Why? Because they, after they came up with all the plans and the drawings and they were. They were starting to construct things, they were going to put this plan into action. They were going to go out and execute this plan. They were running practice drills on their compound on the 400 acres that they were staying. During one of these practice drills, the rocket launcher, it malfunctioned, Surprise, surprise, and there it exploded, basically with the person trying to operate it either right next to it or either holding it. There's various varying degrees of this story. However, what is stated commonly in this story is that Snell and the others considered that to be divine intervention, that that was God telling them that they had the wrong plan, that they were going about this the wrong way, and that whatever their plan was to blow up this particular building wasn't going to work. God was not on their side for this one, so they aborted that mission.

[Nick]

But it also shows you there's just different levels of extremism where these individuals were like, hey, we're not willing to die for our cause. Where the terrorists of 9 11, they knew they were going to die for whatever cause. They had exactly different levels of crazy, my friend.

[Captain]

Yes. And we've certainly reviewed all, all of those different levels here in the garage. We said, 1983 will be a busy year for Richard Snell. And it was, in fact, just that. And we're going to circle back into 83 here in a minute, but let's go to 1984. Now, this is when a. An African American state trooper attempted to pull Richard Snell over for a simple traffic Violation. This is in the state of Arkansas. When the trooper. The state trooper, his name is Lewis Bryant. When he approached Snell's vehicle, Snell got out and shot him. So he shot him multiple times and even shot him again while the trooper was lying on the ground. This killed Officer Bryant. He drove off after this. Now, this story is one that is not reported at length in the news reports, and it's a very tragic story. It's a very sad story. There's parts of this, though, that. I mean, it's. Truth is stranger than fiction. You can't write this stuff. Officer Bryant's wife stumbled upon his cruiser and his body lying there, and she calls for help, and they attempt to try to save this man. He was a young man. I believe he was in his mid to late 20s. So a young man with a young family is gunned down by this racist jerk on the side of the road. But what we get here, Captain, is a trucker. There was a witness that saw this go down, and he's like, you know what? I'm gonna follow that car. I'm gonna follow the murderer so I can help police catch this dude. So this guy follows him all the way to a place called Broken Bow, Oklahoma. They. They get the police there. They know that they're looking for this car. They have the car description from the witnesses of who shot this state trooper. They surround the vehicle in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and Snell's not willing to surrender. He gets in a gun battle, a gunfight with the authorities there. Now, this is one of the better parts of the story here, my friend, because Richard Snell was shot six times during the course of this gun battle, and he was ushered off to the hospital. He was in critical condition, but they ultimately were able to save his life. And so he was going to face a trial now for killing this officer of the law. People that knew Snell immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was a race matter, that because the officer was black and Snell was a white supremacist, white separatist, that he chose to gun down the officer. There's certainly reason to believe that.

[Nick]

Well, that's part of the equation, right?

[Captain]

That's exactly part of the equation. Really. What very likely is, the full story is in his car, he has all kinds of stolen guns, stolen ammunition. I believe they even recovered grenades and explosives from his vehicle.

[Nick]

Yeah. So it's very likely because of the illegal activity and his hatred for authorities and government. But also, again, like we said, it's just part of the equation. But this Officer could have been white, and the same result could have happened.

[Captain]

I believe that would be the case, because what Richard Snell and his buddies, his cronies were doing, these guys were thugs. They were just thugs. That's all they were. They would go and they. They would come in heavily armed to a location and rob the location of their cash and their guns. And they're. They're collecting all these guns and weapons, and again, they're selling some of them. And so his car is loaded down with all kinds of stolen guns, stolen ammunition and explosives. And so, yeah, he probably would have gunned. That was probably the motive to the. That he couldn't have been seen, that the officer, whoever it would have been. And very tragically and very sad that it was this young Officer Bryant. But whoever the officer would have been, they would have most certainly seen all of these weapons in this car. And so Snell would have been busted right there and then, and he wasn't going to let it play out that way. Well, the gun that he used to kill Officer Bryant, they do some ballistics testing on that gun, and they trace it back to a murder from 1983. This is when Snell and two other of his cronies walked into a pawn shop and decided to rob the owner of the pawn shop. They wanted to steal things like guns, jewelry, cash, anything that this guy had on hand.

[Nick]

But this is one of the ways that they had to fund their evil ways.

[Captain]

So this first murder that they connect Richard Snell to was the victim was William Stump. So he himself is former law enforcement and now pawn shop owner. And this is a robbery that will take place in November of 1983. So Richard Snell and two guys go into this pawn shop. This is a Texarkana pawn shop.

[Nick]

Old Texarkana, Yeah.

[Captain]

With nothing but bad intent in their. In their hearts. And they are loaded up with weapons themselves. They are. They are fully armed here. And this is like an incredibly cowardice move by Richard Snell. He shoots this man in the back. They're in the process of robbing the dude. They're going to get what they want. They're going to get what they came there for. They essentially, Captain, they're going to be successful in this mission.

[Nick]

Yeah, but you can't leave an eyewitness.

[Captain]

But that's not good enough for Snell. This guy turns his back, and after opening the. He's not even able to turn around. After opening up the safe, he still got his back turned while he's opening up the safe for Snell. Snell shoots him in the back and they kill this William Stump. One of the men there was a straight up lookout. One of the men there did enter the pawn shop with Snell and they took off. The three of them, I believe they only got away with like $90 in cash. They did get away with some jewelry and some guns and some other items that they took from the pawn shop as well. But as the story goes, the accomplices would later tell authorities that Snell told them that he killed the man. He killed William Stumpp because William Stumpp was a Jew and he deserved to die. And it wasn't just good enough to rob him. So this is the definition of a hate crime. He could have robbed this dude and just left. But no. Snells determined that this guy was Jewish and therefore he had to be killed in the commission of this robbery. And as all the reports go, Captain, it was mistaken identity that he wasn't a Jewish man. And so that's the story according to his accomplices. So what he's going to face is two different charges, right? He's charged with murder, with homicide twice, but he would be facing life for one of the charges of murder and potential death penalty in the other case. We get a pretty easy conviction here because the two men that were with him, remember we mentioned a Steve Scott earlier, this was a man that seemed to run around quite a bit with Snell and probably helped him commit a lot of crimes. And we're going to get into another failed crime of theirs. The other man was William Thomas. So both of these guys were fellow members of the csa, that hate group, and they both turned on Snell, testifying against him at his trial. Now this one is, is a more lighthearted story in that there are no victims here, but one of the crimes that these three idiots attempted to carry out was there was a pipeline, a gas, a natural gas pipeline in Fulton, Arkansas. And these three geniuses had the idea of, well, let's blow up the pipeline. And then the pipe will, will continue to, to funnel natural gas up to the explosion point and we will have a forever burning torch. They wanted to create some kind of spectacle, right? This, this eternal torch that would burn from this pipeline that they destroyed. So this is in Fulton, Arkansas, 1983. However, the explosives that they used, these guys didn't understand that the explosive will, it essentially blows up to the point of least resistance, right? So if you put the explosives on the outside of this heavily fortified metal or lead or whatever it was, pipeline, the least resistance is going to be everywhere else but the pipeline. Right, because it's all air. It's airspace. So they attempted to blow a hole in this pipeline, and it did. It did nothing. I mean, their explosives, they blew up successfully. They just didn't do any damage to the pipeline.

[Nick]

But these guys are. They're arrogant, they're ignorant, they're racist, they're evil, they're dumb as fuck.

[Captain]

Yes. Now, in that shootout with police, when he's eventually arrested, as said, he was shot six times. Four times in the abdomen, once in the knee, and once in the ankle. When they searched the vehicle, they discovered an arsenal of illegal weapons. This included guns, which included the.22 caliber Rugal Ruger pistol with a silencer on it. That was the gun that was proved to be the weapon used to kill William Stump. They found additional silencers, which we've talked about in previous cases, how illegal those are. Hand grenades and other explosive devices. You do have law enforcement on the record saying, look, yes, we. We recognize that Richard Snell is a racist and was involved in these groups. However, after finding what we found in his vehicle, we are certain that that was the motive for gunning down Officer Bryant. And the other part of the story here, Captain, that is so incredibly tragic is that with the funeral service for Trooper Bryant, so you have all these officers, you even have government officials and such that were coming to attend the funeral of the fallen officer, Right on the way to the funeral, there was a vehicle that. That was filled with gentlemen that were going to be pallbearers. These were fellow officers of Trooper Bryant that were in this vehicle, that were going to be pallbearers at his funeral service. And that vehicle was jackknifed by a large gravel truck. Everyone in that vehicle lost their lives that day. On the way to the funeral for.

[Nick]

This young officer, did they ever investigate that as a. You know, was it just an accident?

[Captain]

Yeah, unfortunately, it was just a very tragic sort of freak accident. They weren't the only vehicle that was involved in the accident. From my understanding, there were multiple, multiple vehicles.

[Nick]

It's a shame they didn't kill him in the shootout. So our government didn't have to house him. But I guess in some way, I bet he hated the idea that he was going to be in government housing, AKA prison.

[Captain]

Well, and that's the thing here. If you are. If you take out an officer which he did surrender, it will end in a gunfight. It almost always does. These guys, you killed one of their own. And so, yeah, there's part of me that's proud that they ushered him off to the hospital. Right. Because even in the heat of battle, you want the good guys to do the good thing and do the right thing. And these. These good old boys, these officers could have just left him there to die on the street.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

A good officer understands that it's. It's not their job to be the jury and the executioner. The judge, jury and executioner. No, it's their job to make the arrest. And they made the arrest of a very bad, very violent man. How many more people would he have killed in the commission of a robbery? Or forget about that. He was designing plans and working with others to blow up a very large federal building. How many lives would this dude have taken out? And these guys, they got to him. They arrested him. He goes off the court. Now at his trial, the most damning evidence, obviously, is going to be the two witnesses who were working with him in the robbery of Stump. But those guys weren't there when Snell gunned down the officer. The other bit of evidence, too, was Snell was dumb enough to leave a watch at the pawn shop. That was part of his ruse to disarm the pawn shop owner, to get him to put his walls down a little bit and to engage him in conversation. He went in there under the ruse of trying to sell this watch to William Stump. And then they pull guns on the guy, they rob him, Snell kills him. Snell's too dumb to collect his watch before leaving the pawn shop. So they did have some evidence that they were working with at the time, but they just never connected it to Richard Snell. He left. They left the watch on a. On a scale. They were weighing it to determine how much precious metals the watch contained.

[Nick]

Yeah, but some of this might not be ignorance, as much as it could be arrogance. And to think that you're the smartest guy in the room and law enforcement is dumb and they're never going to catch me.

[Captain]

It could be.

[Nick]

Either way, the guy's evil.

[Captain]

Exactly.

[Nick]

Pile of shit.

[Captain]

Yeah. The trial, one of the trials lasted three days, and the jury only deliberated for a mere 15 minutes before convicting him. And they came back with the recommendation of death penalty for Richard Snell.

[Nick]

Wow.

[Captain]

The two associates, Thomas and Scott, who both testified for the state in exchange for decreased sentences, they. They pled guilty. So they went off to serve their time. After turning on their. Their guy, their buddy, Richard Snell would ultimately be sent off for incarceration at Tucker Maximum Security Unit in Jefferson County, Arkansas, to await his impending execution. And despite what has been reported as procedural errors alleged on his appeals, anyway, Snell's conviction was upheld. And so thus the death penalty, the death sentence would be upheld as well.

[Nick]

I want to thank everybody for joining us here today in the garage. For everything true crime, check out truecrime garage.com make sure you sign up on the mailing list. And stick around for part two of our series, Hate American Made.

[Captain]

Until then, be good, be kind, and don't litter.