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- [00:02]
Payne Lindsay
You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.
- [00:08]
Maggie Freeling
Okay, let's take a poll. How weird does it feel to be called someone's fiance?
- [00:13]
Payne Lindsay
Right.
- [00:14]
Maggie Freeling
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- [01:10]
Payne Lindsay
In 2009, a young woman was arrested. She was later released in the middle of the night with no phone, money or transportation.
- [01:17]
Celicia Stanton
She's in an unknown area.
- [01:19]
Unknown
Do you know if she's here now.
- [01:21]
Or was she released?
- [01:22]
Celicia Stanton
They said she was released.
- [01:25]
Payne Lindsay
The case is now one of LA's most controversial disappearances. From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, I'm Payne Lindsay. And I'm Maggie Freeling.
- [01:34]
Celicia Stanton
This is up and Vanish Weekly.
- [01:36]
Payne Lindsay
From the team that brought you up and Vanished comes an all new podcast that brings you a weekly dose of true crime cases. Join me as I talk through cases with special guests and true crime experts. There's gotta be something at the heart of that evidence that they've got.
- [01:52]
Unknown
It's gotta be DNA.
- [01:54]
Payne Lindsay
Yeah. Tune in as Payne Lindsay lays out the crime in True up and Vanish. A late night knock at the door, a missing car, and a mysterious shadowy figure caught on camera.
- [02:06]
Unknown
We cannot see that person's face.
- [02:09]
Ever.
- [02:09]
Luckiest person in the world.
- [02:11]
Payne Lindsay
What new evidence will it take to solve one of Florida's most high profile missing persons cases? Up and Vanish Weekly is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Foreign I am so excited to share this new season two episode of True Crime with you. If you want an ad free listening experience, subscribe to Tenderfoot Plus@tenderfootplus.com or on Apple Podcasts. Hi friends. I have been absolutely loving reading your reviews. They truly mean a lot to me, and I read every single one. I really do. Your feedback is just super helpful because it really allows me to see, you know, what stories are resonating with you and what you want to hear more of. And honestly, just knowing what you're loving, knowing what's connecting with you, that really does help shape the show. So thank you for taking the time to do that. But here's the thing. I think we all know what it feels like to be binging a Netflix show that we love. We get super into it, and then we realize, like, oh, oops, it's done, it's gone. There's no more seasons. And really, the same is true for podcasts. But here's the thing. I know that you have a direct impact on whether shows like True or Crime stick around, and the biggest way to do that, other than listening, is to leave more ratings and reviews. It's like upvoting the show. It genuinely helps us reach more listeners and ensures that we can just keep creating these stories for you. And honestly, I have this kind of big goal, which is I'd love to hit 2,000 reviews before the end of the season. Right now, we're about 700 reviews away, which feels like a lot. But with your help, I know that we can make this happen. If you're listening on Apple, you can leave a rating and review, and if you're on Spotify, a star rating works just as well. So it only takes a few seconds, but it genuinely makes a world of difference. So thank you so much for your support. Seriously, it means everything. Now, let's get into the show. Please be aware that today's episode contains references to gun violence. Please take care while listening. On June 18, 1984, a man was murdered in front of his Denver, Colorado, home. There's a photo I saw once of the crime scene. It's taken in the moments just after police arrived, and looking at it, it's hard not to feel unsettled. The victim is on his back, his legs bent, arms strewn around his head, a trail of blood running down the pavement. Next to him, there's a black VW convertible, its door still swung open. The man in the photograph is Alan Berg, a prolific and controversial talk radio personality. And before long, news of his death aired on the same airways that Allen himself had once dominated.
- [05:31]
Unknown
10:39 KOA time, and I'm still trying to piece information together off the air. I'm finding out that Channel 7 has issued a report that said the best investigative efforts of the DPD has indicated that someone passing in a vehicle fired upon Allen Berg when he was exiting his vehicle in front of his home. 10 or more shell casings, a number that would indicate an automatic weapon, was found in the at the scene. And Allen Berg has in fact passed on. He is no longer with us.
- [06:09]
Payne Lindsay
I'd happened across Alan's story on a recommendation. And so the first time I sat down, ready to really dive in, I knew very little about the case, very little about Allen. I understood basically what I just told you, that he was a well known radio host, that he'd been targeted and murdered. So I started how I always do. I compiled a list of articles and videos to help me research the case. I clicked the first link on my list. It was a Denver Post piece, a front page story from June 2009 commemorating the 25th anniversary of Allen's passing. It opened, simply enough. The violent murder of Denver talk radio icon Alan Berg reverberates amid fresh reminders because the commemoration comes just days after a gunman opened fire at the U.S. holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. i stopped reading. The hair on my arm stood up straight as a flood of memories coursed through my mind. Police say just before 1pm A man walked into the Holocaust Museum in Washington and immediately began firing with a long rifle. Authorities in Washington, D.C. say at least two people have been shot at the U.S. holocaust Memorial Museum. We had no prior information. There was no prior threats of this nature about this incident. So it appears to be a lone gunman who entered into the museum and opened fire. This shooting at the Holocaust Museum in 2009, the one the Denver Post was calling a fresh reminder of Ellen's murder, I remembered it well because I had been there. So what exactly did the brutal murder of a radio personality have to do with a crime from my own life 25 years later? That was something I needed to find out. This is the story of Alan Berg. I'm Celsia Stanton, and you're listening to truer crime. In 2009, I was 14 years old. It was the golden age of flip phones, Facebook and handheld digital cameras. Back then, I spent my downtime making music videos at sleepovers and tapping out text on my Pink Motorola razors T9 keypad. At that time, there was almost nothing further from my mind than talk radio. My interest in radio was pretty much limited to whether or not my bus driver was going to play the Hot 100 station after school. Talk radio, I would have said, was for old people. What was front of mind, though, was Washington, D.C. it was my last Summer before high school and I was gearing up for a class trip to the nation's capital. The trip marked a transition of sorts. We were kids, but soon to be full blown teens. It was definitive proof that despite the slow passing days of childhood, we must be growing up. And while that trip was filled with memorable moments, it was our visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum that stands out more than a decade later. When our group arrived that day in June, we shuffled through the lobby's security checkpoint. I remember a guard who cleared us to enter, smiling and wishing us well before turning back to usher in the next group of visitors. We headed upstairs to the exhibits, slowly winding our way through haunting displays and experiences that taught us about the horrors of Hitler's genocide. After exploring for a while, a friend and I decided to head back downstairs. But as we got to the hallway that led to the museum's main floor, a security guard blocked our way. Stop here, she told us. She didn't give her reasoning, but the hallway walls were made of glass and from them our view of the lobby was clear. My 14 year old brain struggled to reconcile the chaotic scene unfolding downstairs, and I watched as streams of screaming visitors scrambled past one another, each in their own desperate attempt to escape the building. After a few minutes, the security guard's radio crackled the words man down. Man down. Coming through the static downstairs, a man had walked through the front doors of the museum and armed with a slide action rifle, he started shooting. And while I'd learned a lot in the hours, days and weeks to come about the anti Semitic attack carried out that day, it would take 15 years for the lessons of this horrifying event to come full circle for me with the story of another tragedy. The murder of a once prolific talk radio personality named Alan Berg.
- [11:01]
Unknown
He's a prince.
- [11:03]
Payne Lindsay
He's primitive, he's provocative. He's Alan Berg and he's next On News Talk 80. Picture. The audacity of Howard Stern fused with the polarizing nature of Rush Limbaugh. Allenberg was the original provocateur, the embodiment of a shock jock years before the term even existed. Always ready to take on callers with his signature wit and ever confrontational style.
- [11:31]
Unknown
I'm pretty upset about what the government is doing as far as bringing in all the refugees. You know, like people. Like if they're showing a work ethic that's better than most Americans, God bless them. Well, no, I'll make a shake up and do something and work and earn something and not want a free ride, Sweetheart, line One. You're on koa.
- [11:52]
Payne Lindsay
Let's be real. In the era of Elon Musk, Bill Maher, and Candace Owens, one where rage bait rules and our news cycles are increasingly polarized, media personalities like Alan Berg might seem like they're a dime a dozen, just par for the course, you know? But Allen wasn't doing all of this in 2024. He was making waves in the 1970s and 80s. But of course, it hadn't started there. No, the roots of Alan Berg, OG shock jock, dated back to childhood. Growing up in the late 30s and early 40s, Allen's view of the world was largely shaped by the primarily black and Jewish Chicago neighborhood where he grew up. But despite the diversity of that upbringing, Allen told Rolling Stone that his father was, quote, a notorious bigot against anything that wasn't Jewish. But Allen saw the other side of his father, too. A man both overzealous and ashamed of his Jewish identity. The kind of guy who dutifully attended temple while hiding his own Jewish identity from the Christian clients at his dentistry practice. The hypocrisy enraged Alan. It all informed the person he was becoming, a man deeply influenced by principles of truth and justice. And so maybe it's not all that surprising that at 22, he became one of the youngest people to ever pass the Illinois bar exam. But this time in Alan's life wasn't just about school. Along the way, he'd fallen in love with a woman named Judith Halpern. Judith was captivated by Allen's remarkable sense of humor, charmed by the instant connection he formed with her family. Before long, the two got married and began their life together in Chicago. According to Rolling Stone, while Allen had started working as a low paid law clerk, his habit of paying kickbacks to bail bondsmen resulted in a slew of cases getting sent his way. And as he grew his career as a criminal defense lawyer, his income skyrocketed. He went from making $100 a month to $50,000 a year. It was a financial boon. But as Alan Berg biographer Stephen Singular told our team, from an ethical standpoint, Alan was conflicted. He often found himself defending folks who were said to have mafia ties. And that dissonance between his success in the courtroom and the ethical precarity of defending guilty clients, it gnawed at him. The stress of his work began to manifest physically as he grappled with epileptic seizures that turned out to be the result of a brain tumor, one which ultimately required a risky and life saving surgery to remove in the midst of these struggles, he developed a drinking problem and started cheating on Judith. Pictures of Alan are this almost perfect visual representation of all that internal chaos. He's tall and slender, with a somewhat disheveled look. His beard, bushy and graying, connects up to his hair, which sits almost helmet like on his head. Bangs grown intentionally long to cover his surgical scars. Distinctive glasses frame a face lined with tension. I don't care what Alan Berg looked like, but he did, and his looks were often the butt of his own jokes. As Judith told us, he seemed to develop a deep sense of self hate. Allen's life, once marked by ambition and success, began to spiral out of control and soon his marriage unraveled too. For Alan, this was rock bottom.
- [15:51]
Unknown
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- [16:50]
Payne Lindsay
18/ DNC supply when you think about.
- [16:52]
Unknown
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- [17:07]
Payne Lindsay
Simple.
- [17:08]
Unknown
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- [18:03]
Payne Lindsay
It was unbearable to me that I was prone to corruption, allen told Rolling stone. All of a sudden I was doing all the things I'd always been ridiculously critical of, and the drinking was a great way to not face the ugliness I saw in myself. You think maybe it reminds you a little bit of your father, whom you never saw any guts in in your whole life? You suddenly say, I'm not the opposite of him. I'm weak, too. It was something Allen concluded that needed to be worked through. And so he did. He moved to Colorado, got sober and began a new career working at a clothing store. It was here that Allen met Lawrence Gross, a local talk radio host. Lawrence was quickly taken by Allen's opinionated and boisterous personality, and the two hit it off right away. One day, Lawrence invited Allen to be a guest on his show, to come and just talk. He wanted Allen to be Alan, to share some opinions and discuss hot topics with callers. According to Allenberg biographer Stephen Singular, talk radio was just gaining traction back then, especially in Denver. The shows that did exist were safe and polite, nothing too edgy. But that all changed when Alan Berg came on the scene. From the get go, he wasn't afraid to dive into the tough stuff religion, politics, sex, you name it. His natural talent for pushing boundaries quickly put him in the spotlight, outshining Lawrence Gross. It wasn't long before the station realized they needed him there full time. And so, without any formal training, Allen began yet another new career, this time in radio. He bounced around at a few smaller stations before landing at one of the most prominent radio outlets in the country, koa. But the more I learned about Allen's work at the station, the more I wanted to hear from him. So I started digging through audio files, listening to archived segments of his show. Suddenly I started to understand that Alan Berg was different, that when it came to talk radio, Alan just had it. You're listening to Two Way Talk at its very best, with alan Berg on.
- [20:19]
Unknown
KOA News Talk 85 call 861 TALK.
- [20:25]
Payne Lindsay
But even with a plethora of audio to dig through, I had a sneaking sense that there was still more to uncover an understanding of Alan's impact on radio that could only come from the folks who'd lived it. Luckily for me, the team here at Tenderfoot TV had the opportunity to do exactly that. The chance to interview several folks who'd known Alan best. Here's his former producer, Susan Ryman.
- [20:52]
Celicia Stanton
Beauty at talk radio is trying to figure out what people want to hear us talk about. And it's really the hardest thing to figure out, how to keep that audience engaged and tuned. And that's what made Alan Berg so special, because he got it. He understood what made people tune in and stay tuned in.
- [21:12]
Payne Lindsay
Alan's show on KOA took off immediately. It was his style that stood out most to listeners. With the show built around callers, Allen knew exactly what it took to. To keep the phone lines ringing.
- [21:25]
Celicia Stanton
You know, he liked to get people riled up. He liked to get them angry because he would get to another side of these listeners, the true side of all of us, where eventually in anger, you're going to tell the truth. And he would, he would grill them. But a lot of the talk show hosts are able to demand that their listeners either be smart enough or educated enough to challenge him. If you're not going to be one of those two, don't bother calling him.
- [21:56]
Unknown
Try your luck at talking with him now.
- [21:59]
Dial 861-825.
- [22:01]
Payne Lindsay
Call in and try your luck was right, because Alan was ready to go toe to toe on even the most sensitive issues. But the magic formula to Alan's show wasn't just his interest in touching the kinds of topics others wouldn't. As Peter Boyles, Allen's friend and one time radio rival, told us. It was also his demeanor, his brashness, his contrarian nature, his willingness to defend that kept listeners tuning in day after day.
- [22:30]
Unknown
He was visceral and people reacted to.
- [22:34]
Payne Lindsay
Him in their stomach. They didn't react to him up in the wheelhouse.
- [22:38]
Unknown
He would, he would gut check you.
- [22:41]
Payne Lindsay
And that worked.
- [22:43]
Unknown
Hold it, pal. Hold it there one second. Well, I'm. Don't tell me about stupid. To my level. How do you think you are? I don't like you. You don't have to like. What makes you think you're such a judgment maker? You're going to tell me you're stupid? On my level, you're a creep, buddy. Remember that. You're on KOA Good afternoon. I've attacked Carter. I've attacked every president ever lived because they're all one and the same. They're a bunch of greedy power maniacs who could care less about the well being of anybody. Oh, I know that's. That's garbage. I can you. No, it's not garbage, pal. Wait a minute. You go down. You go down in the ghetto, okay? I'm a white middle class, a wasp. You go down in the ghetto and you, the wasp, wants to blame everybody else in the world. Let me finish. I'm not blaming anybody for. You got every advantage going for you because you are a wasp. You're on my show. And as long as you're on my show, you'll follow my rules. You don't make up the call that Jack. You don't make up the rules on my show. You want to end it right here? Sure. I'll hang up on you if you. Hey, Jeff. Go ahead, both of you hang up. Cowards. Go bail out right now.
- [23:45]
Payne Lindsay
From sex, work and civil rights to trivia and go, go boots, Allen hit every topic, whether it was serious or silly, with his signature no holds barred approach.
- [23:55]
Unknown
What he would say was, I addict people to myself and it was a very true thing on the radio. People who'd say, I can't stand that guy. I'll never listen again while he tuned in the next day and the next day and the next. Because not only did they not know what he was gonna do next, I don't think he often knew what he was gonna do or say next. It was incredibly spontaneous with Alan.
- [24:17]
Payne Lindsay
There was no gray. You loved him or you hated him and you were listening either way. It reminded me of a Denver poll I read about in my research. Who was the most liked and most disliked media personality in town? Allen, the survey found, was both.
- [24:34]
Unknown
Has he told me, I just want to make people feel, I want to make people think, I want to provoke, I want to get a reaction. You know? He would say, denver's kind of a sleepy town. There's not a lot going on here. There's nobody like me to sort of poke people and get him to think about politics, race, sex, gender, women's liberation, gay liberation, whatever, everything. He could talk about anything spontaneously and in an interesting way.
- [25:04]
Payne Lindsay
The fact of the matter was simple. Allen didn't stand out because he was charming or persuasive. He stood out because he made people think. But folks who knew him well understood something deeper, too, that who Alan was on air was a Persona, a character he leaned into, but not necessarily a fair picture of the full person he was.
- [25:28]
Celicia Stanton
As much as you wanted to listen to him on the air, it truly was schtick. It was just shtick. Alan was the kindest guy I have ever had the pleasure to know, and it really broke his heart in a lot of ways that people disliked him. Like the time that he went to the Nuggets stadium and was supposed to be there for halftime and the crowd booed him. It was heartbreaking. He was nothing like what people perceived him to be as this angry man walking in with an attitude. Alan just loved talk radio. He loved getting people fired up. But no, he was the nicest guy in the whole world, truly. But he got what he wanted. He wanted to get people riled up. He wanted to get a reaction. And he did. But unfortunately, it wasn't always good.
- [26:21]
Payne Lindsay
Producer Ananth White shared with the Lost Highways podcast that for Allen, going all in on air was his method of addressing the issues he truly cared about. A means of openly confronting bigoted viewpoints. But there were no limits to the types of individuals Allen was willing to engage on air. And many times he found himself locked in debate with outright white supremacists.
- [26:46]
Unknown
I think the Jews are still firmly in control of the Soviet Union. I think they're responsible for the murder of 50 million white Christians. You think so, huh? Yes, I do. I think you're sick. I think you're pathetic. I think your ability to reason and use any logic is a fragile. I think you put a Nazi on your program, and then you have somebody. You are a Nazi by your very. On his mission. Thanks so much. It'd be good. That's right. You heard it. Okay. 861. 861.
- [27:08]
Payne Lindsay
And as Allen continued engaging with these callers, arguing with them on his show, folks at the station started to grow wary. Allen's producer, Susan was one of them. She broached the idea of scaling back a bit with Allen.
- [27:23]
Celicia Stanton
He was appalled. I would even say that out loud. He said, are you serious? So I'm supposed to shut up because of this man? We're going to let fear stop me from doing these interviews? I said, you're just humiliating him, Alan. It's horrible. This guy is crazy. He's crazy. And he said, well, that's what the audience needs to hear, is they need to hear what you're hearing over and over and over again to make them realize that these insane sex exist out there and they need to be exposed and they need to be stopped.
- [28:01]
Payne Lindsay
I read about one incident in the Rolling Stone where after a shouting match with an anti Semitic caller, a man stormed into Allen's studio wielding a gun and threatened to shoot it. Luckily, the gunman fled. He was apprehended and charged soon after. And yet still, Alan was undeterred.
- [28:21]
Celicia Stanton
He refused to be stopped. None of these guys in this building we're sitting right now are going to stop talking about what they want to talk about on the air. They're afraid someone's going to gun them down. That's not what we do on talk radio.
- [28:35]
Payne Lindsay
As Allen told 60 Minutes reporter Morley Safer, he knew the risks.
- [28:40]
Unknown
Isn't there something a little dangerous about this kind of broadcasting? There is a danger, I agree with you. That's the danger that we exhibit in all rights of free expression, be it columnists who write newspapers.
- [28:51]
Payne Lindsay
Yeah, indeed.
- [28:51]
Unknown
But you say yourself, you often go on there, you don't know quite what.
- [28:56]
Payne Lindsay
You'Re going to say.
- [28:56]
Unknown
Hopefully my legal training will prevent me from saying the one thing that will kill me, and I've come awfully close.
- [29:06]
Payne Lindsay
Now 50 years old, Alan was thriving, really making a name for himself with a career in full boom. But on June 18, 1984, it all came to a screeching halt. That evening, Alan and his ex wife Judith had gone to dinner together. The two had managed to remain connected even after their divorce. After the meal, the pair made a quick stop at the store before deciding to split off for a bit. Judith planned to visit with a close mutual friend and she had a drive ahead of her. Allen, they discussed would meet up after he made a couple of phone calls at home. When Judith finally made it to that friend's house, she was greeted with a hug before all attention somberly shifted to the room's tv. The words streaming out of the speakers were nearly impossible to comprehend. Alan Berg had been murdered in his driveway. Twelve rounds shot from a single rifle had pierced their way through Allen and the garage door behind him. The pain was visceral, leveling the folks who'd known him best. His colleagues at KOA struggled to share the news with listeners on air.
- [30:25]
Unknown
And Allen Berg has in fact passed on. He is no longer with us and, and it's a shock. It's to describe how I feel right now. My. I've got a high pitch ringing sound in my ears. My head is throbbing and I can't believe it. Alan Berg was a purveyor of words. Alan Berg was a purveyor of ideas. You can't kill words and you can't kill ideas. Funny thing, Alan always used to say, they're out there, but you can't worry about them. You never know where the nuts are going to come from, is what he used to say. So you live from day to day, everybody's at the scene right now, and as soon as we can get an update on what has occurred, we'll pass it along to you. It's 1042 on a very, very big, fairy blue evening.
- [31:46]
Payne Lindsay
The Rolling Stone reported on the grief felt by the community. Strangers scattered roses in the driveway of Alan's apartment, placing flowers in the bullet holes dotting their way across his garage door. Many listeners were taken aback by just how much they could miss someone they never actually knew. Denver's memorial service for Berg was massive and well attended. But amidst the grief was a growing fear, a sneaking suspicion that the very qualities that made Allen so treasured were the same ones that had led to his murder, one longtime listener told Rolling Stone. Even subconsciously, people will resist saying what's on their minds because someone who's out there listening and polishing a gun won't like what they say. If you're a public person and hold some unpopular beliefs, your life is in jeopardy. But Alan knew that risk when he was alive. And more important than his fear was his endless devotion to truth and good radio.
- [32:50]
Celicia Stanton
I would have followed him anywhere. I would have had so much pleasure of producing his show and just watching his mind work. And most of the time I just shake my head and think, why didn't I think of that? That's crazy. That's crazy smart radio. But yeah, he haunts me. He's with me every day. I don't think there's a day that goes by. I don't think Alan Burke, he's always there. We were robbed, all of us.
- [33:32]
Maggie Freeling
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- [34:05]
Payne Lindsay
At New Balance. We believe if you run, you're a runner, however you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way. And that's what running's all about. Run your way@newbalance.com Running in the wake of Allen's death, the Denver Police Department sprung into action. According to Rolling Stone, 47 officers were assigned to the case full time as the department began one of the largest murder investigations in the city's history. KOA offered their support, too. A reward of $10,000 to anyone with information about Allen's murder. It wasn't long before police were presented with a promising lead about a frequent caller on Allen's show, A man named David Lane, the same white supremacist whose clip I played earlier.
- [35:16]
Unknown
You are a Nazi, by your very own admission. Thank you so much.
- [35:20]
Payne Lindsay
David had been a longtime listener and was known for his heated on air exchanges with Allen. Steven Singular told our team that investigators tried to find him, but they didn't know where he was. And while it could have been a solid lead, David wasn't the only person with a vendetta against Allen.
- [35:41]
Unknown
Somebody interviewed the police officer who was in charge of it, the detective in charge of it. He was in his office, and they said, do you have any suspects? And he pointed to the Denver phone book and said, well, there are probably 2 million suspects. This guy at one time or another aggravated everybody. And so they cast a wide net looking for suspects, and they essentially came up with absolutely nothing.
- [36:13]
Payne Lindsay
The case was passed to the FBI, and soon they got a lead that blew open the entire investigation. According to the Los Angeles Times, a man named Thomas Martinez had come to the FBI with a confession that he was a part of an organization that committed hundreds of crimes across the West. Crimes that included the murder of Alan Berg. The group called themselves the Order. As Stephen told us, the name was borrowed from a 1978 novel. Openly racist and anti Semitic, the fictional story follows a secret neo Nazi group, the Order, which seeks to start a revolution and cleanse the US of anyone they deem an enemy. And while the book was a disturbing favorite among white supremacists, a man named Bob Matthews wanted to take it to the next level, to transform fiction into reality. So at the end of 1983, less than a year before Allen's murder, Bob began recruiting individuals for his own version of the Order. And together they committed hundreds of crimes across the western United States. Things like theft and counterfeiting. But perhaps most core to the Order's mission was their goal to cleanse the world of anyone that threatened their white supremacist agenda and ideals. The revolution required the elimination of their enemies. So they drafted a hit list.
- [37:41]
Unknown
They start committing robberies, they start counterfeiting money, and they start plotting who should we assassinate first to, you know, really show this the severity of what we're going to do. David Lane is in the group. He says, I know this guy in Denver. He's a Loudmouth. He's on the radio. He's always trying to stir things up. He's always going against people like us who have our beliefs and our ideas. Why don't we go to Denver and make this our first target?
- [38:14]
Payne Lindsay
For weeks leading up to the murder, the Order spied on Allen. They learned where he lived and stalked his daily routines, and then they made a plan to kill him. With all this new intel on the Order and their numerous crimes, the FBI's investigation into Allen's murder intensified. It didn't take long for them to close in on the group, eventually searching the house of suspected Order member Gary Yarborough. Inside, investigators discovered a trove of weapons and supplies, including Aryan Nation uniforms, a dozen guns, multiple police scanners, four loaded crossbows, 100 sticks of dynamite, and over 6,000 rounds of ammunition. Upstairs, they also found what appeared to be an altar, a place where black crepe paper and candles surrounded a three foot tall portrait of Adolf Hitler. Later, one of the guns found was identified as the same Mac 10 machine gun used to kill Allen. Soon, the FBI discovered Order founder Bob Matthews hiding out in a house in Washington State. He refused to surrender. According to Rolling Stone, officers surrounded the house for more than 30 hours as Bob shot at them from the inside. After a long standoff, the building caught on fire and Bob died in the blaze. In a few short months, 24 members of the Order were arrested and indicted for a multitude of crimes, including, of course, the assassination of Alan Berg. According to the Chicago Tribune, only 10 of the indicted Order members would go to trial. The other 14 either pled guilty or agreed to testify in exchange for lesser sentences. Through a unique legal strategy, the US Government was able to try the group all in one go for 67 separate crimes. Crimes that included everything from racketeering and conspiracy to robbery and murder. The trial lasted three and a half months and ended with convictions of all 10 defendants, their sentences ranging from 40 to 100 years in prison. A few years later, four members of the Order were tried separately for violating Allen's civil rights. According to the LA Times, almost 100 witnesses testified over two weeks. Two of the four were found guilty. David Lane, who'd driven the car the night of the murder, and Bruce Pierce, who'd pulled the trigger. And while the other two, Richard Scutari and Jean Craig, were acquitted, both were already incarcerated on other charges. With its members facing decades in prison, the Order seemed to crumble. But the hateful spirit of the group was harder to stop. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Gary Yarbo issued what felt like a warning during his 1986 sentencing hearing, declaring that the order's mission would be carried out by 200,000 faithful members and 100,000 supporters. There will be many more, he stated ominously. The blood will flow. And it grieves me. And more than two decades after Yarbrough's haunting premonition, I would find myself sitting amongst a group of 8th graders in the aftermath of our own tragic event, now safe but still reeling from what had occurred that day at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, our group ate dinner at a restaurant while a TV in the corner played the news. It was then that I learned the details of what we'd experienced. That the shooter who entered the museum that day was 88 year old James Von Brunn, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier. The FBI says James von Brunn walked into the museum today and started shooting before being shot by a security guard.
- [42:21]
Unknown
An anti Semite with a lifelong grievance against the government.
- [42:25]
Payne Lindsay
He is 88 years old, a white male from Maryland. He is the founder of a racist, anti Semitic website.
- [42:32]
Unknown
In writing fondly about Nazis, Von Brunn.
- [42:35]
Claims Hitler, as American boobs are beginning.
- [42:36]
Payne Lindsay
To learn, was not all wrong. I'd also learn that Stephen Tyrone Johns, a police officer who'd been shot during von Brumm's rampage, had passed away. As his photo appeared on the screen, recognition set in. This was the same officer who'd greeted our group just hours earlier. Stephen had worked at the museum for six years. He was married with children. He was deeply loved. And even if none of that was true, just like Allen, he didn't deserve what happened to him. And after that kind of thing happens, what do you say? How do you talk to a 14 year old about it? When you're eager to get older but still just a kid, how do you reconcile something like this? And what I remember is that in the aftermath we talked about the shooting like it was some random freak event, an anomaly that you reconcile with hollow explanations that sometimes bad people just do bad things. And when the reports came out that von Brunn had been a Holocaust denier, that he'd held deeply rooted racist and anti Semitic beliefs, it all fit the narrative even more perfectly. A sane person would never think that way. Von Brunn was an outlier who didn't fit, a tragic departure from the norm. And yet Allen's story proves that it's not. One of the last producers to work with Allen, Ananth White told the Denver Post something Horrible. Like what happened at the Holocaust Museum proves that these folks don't always go away. In fact, many see Allen's death as a foreshadowing to events like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the devastatingly violent consequences of an increasingly radical cohort who are willing to take the lives of innocent people in the name of advancing a hateful and conspiratorial cause. So I wonder if this kind of violence should surprise us. Does it really come out of nowhere? Or does our obsession with the idea of good and evil keep us from seeing a much muddier truth? None of the men connected to Allen's murder would disavow their white supremacist beliefs once in prison. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate website called Free the Order valorized the killers with biographies of the group's founders and articles written by imprisoned Order members. They even had a guest book for folks on the outside to leave their own comments. And perhaps most horrifyingly, visitors could contribute to the Adopt a Brudder campaign, which allowed them to send monthly money to a jailed Order member. Rest well, Bruce. One poster shared online after Order member Bruce Pierce died in prison. Your name is now etched alongside the other warriors and heroes of our movement forever. I've reflected a lot on Alan's story, who he was and what he meant to people. Allen was divisive, but he also brought something impactful to American listeners. An interest in thinking deeply and critically, a willingness to engage, a steadfast determination to challenge others. He could be loud, rude, arrogant, distinctly uncharming. And still, his contributions are meaningful. And I think when hearing today's episode, it can be easy to sink into despondency, to feel hopeless in the face of the long shadow of antisemitism and white supremacy, deeply upset that whether it's 10, 25, or 50 years later, this sort of hateful and violent thinking is still stealing lives. And all of that is true. But also, I wonder, what can be taken away now, 40 years later, that's positive. And perhaps it's an understanding that when enough of us are willing to be loud, willing to fight back, willing to be seen as brash or harsh, willing to toss politeness for authenticity, maybe it all has the power to create a more thoughtful, more reflective, more critical society. And it's that work, I think, that lays the foundation for action, the groundwork for real change. Because a gun alone can't kill a movement, I want to stay together just a little longer to discuss a few action items related to today's story. First, I want to highlight the Stephen Tyrone John Summer Youth Leadership Program, which was created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in honor of Stephen. According to their website, the program provides 50 outstanding high school students from the Washington, D.C. area with an intensive educational internship at the museum each summer. More than 850 students from 120 Washington, D.C. area schools have participated since the program was established in 2010. You can learn more at www.ushmm.org. i also want to tell you about Youth on Record, an organization that provides a variety of community programming to young creatives aged 11 to 24 in the Denver, Colorado area. I've thought a lot about how important it is that we take the time to nurture the future. Alan Bergs of the World and Youth on Record is an organization doing exactly that. Their program programs are designed to help young people become more free, more rooted in their personal power, and better able to thrive in spite of systems and circumstances that disempower and marginalize them. And they do this through a variety of programs that give students hands on learning through the world of podcasting, radio, music and sonic arts. You can learn more and donate to support their work@youthonrecord.org as always, you can keep up with True Crime on Instagram and active@TrueCrimePod and you can find me on Instagram and TikTok, Alicia Stanton, or through my weekly newsletter, SincerelyCeleciaIncerelyCelecia.substack.com for a full source list and links to today's action items, make sure to visit our website@truercrimepodcast.com True or Crime is created, hosted and written by me, Celicia Stanton, and is a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. Additional writing and research by Olivia Husenfeld. Executive producers are myself, Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay. Additional production by Olivia Hussingfeld and Jamie Albright Editing by Liam Luxon with additional editing support by Sydney Evans and Jaja Muhammad. Our Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan. Artwork by Station 16 Original music by Jay Ragsdale Mix by Dayton Cole. Thank you to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA Back Media and Marketing and the Nord Group. For more podcasts like True Crime, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us@Tenderfoot TV. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening to this season two episode of Truer Crime. If you want an ad free version of this show and other great shows from Tenderfoot TV, you can subscribe to Tenderfoot plus at tenderfootplus.com or on Apple podcasts.