BROTHERHOOD OF MURDER

by Thomas Martinez, John Guinther

Collects twenty-six classic stories spanning almost two centuries of Canadian literature, from tales by early Quebecois storytellers to stories by contemporary masters

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

291 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those rare mass market True Crime books which may have at least a little value as a historical or sociological source, since it was written by one of the participants in the crimes it discusses, making it in effect a memoir. Of course, it is fraught with all of the problems inherent in memoirs intended for publication and edited for a mass audience, with the additional proviso that it was “co-written” by a second author, who may actually be responsible for most of the actual writing, given Martinez’s limited education. Still, Martinez unquestionably contributed through reflections and probably first drafts of many of the chapters, and he did know some of the events he was describing at first hand. Furthermore, he makes an effort to reflect on how he became involved in the criminal actions central to the book, and why others may be attracted to similar actions in the future, which is possibly worth looking at for those who study these phenomena.

The crimes in question were connected with Martinez’s participation in “The Order,” a White Nationalist terror cell with connections to Aryan Nations and based directly upon the groups described in The Turner Diaries. This group was responsible for counterfeiting, bank and armed car robberies, several smaller-scale robberies, and the murder of a liberal talk show host. Their profits were used to fund sympathetic “above-ground” groups such as the National Alliance (headed by William Pierce, the writer of the Turner Diaries), the White Patriot Party, and Aryan Nations. Martinez was a somewhat minor participant, largely involved in passing counterfeit money and other minor acts of support, but on his arrest agreed to help the FBI and law enforcement authorities to crack the organization.

A lot of the book is about the period in which he was acting as a “double agent.” It’s worth noting that Martinez is, in that sense, more typical of the members of White Nationalist and neo-fascist groups than is generally realized. A great many of them are simultaneously informers and sympathizers, including the leaders of some of the more notorious organizations. Even the “Commander,” George Lincoln Rockwell, who founded the first American Nazi Party, regularly submitted reports to the FBI. Martinez is one of the relatively few to opnely write about this experience, however, and gives some insight into the psychology of betrayal and divided consciousness that goes along with it.

Still and all, this book is ultimately a sensationalist mass market paperback, and it has all the expected problems that come with that. It was also presumably intended to help launch Martinez into a career as a “former” Nazi, who lectures for organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center in order to help them raise funds to fight fascism. Men who have inside knowledge of actual terrorist activities are vital to such groups, since they can help raise the alarm and justify the continued existence of the “antis.” Thus, while the details of the actions of the Order in this text will mostly hew to factual accounts, there is an inevitable tone of alarmism that comes along with it. Better historical studies in the future will help place the Order in the context of broader trends, rather than playing up the most frightening scenarios.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author recounts his time from casual racist to Bob Mathews sought to copy, funded by robbery and counterfeiting.

Co-written by a Mathews follower, this work may be self-serving. It went on to inspire the Brotherhood of Murder TV movie (1999). That being said, Martinez's reflection, repentance and atonement reaching out to and connecting with Morris Dees, ADL, and Jewish communities feels authentic.

Regardless, the inner details on the murder of Alan Berg and the eventual downfall of the group on Whidbey Island make for good true crime reading.

However, what really struck me is in the afterword "The Future of American Terrorism" as it resonates with me on the rise of the years of anti-system political movements and while even as recently as 2019 "...preventing terrorist attacks from foreign and domestic actors remains the FBI’s top priority." Martinez reflects back on the simmering discontent and terroristic possibilities simmering and comes across as prescient on The Undying Appeal of White Nationalism:

The increasing frequency with which the radical right has turned to acts of terrorism may be in part a product of its sense of frustration. Studies by federal agencies and the ADL note that these organizations in recent years have suffered significant losses of membership-the Klan especially is in a precipitate decline-presumably leaving the remaining troops beleaguered and desperate. There may be some truth to that analysis, but I don't think it is the principal cause of the frustration. Based on my experience in the Klan and the National Alliance, and my observations of others who were there with me, the fewness of our numbers, far from making us despair, added to our sense of belonging to an elite. That reaction was one of which Bob was a victim and which he exploited when he formed The Order.

The frustration, rather, in my judgment, emanates largely from the sense the elitists have that nobody but themselves is listening to them. That was my growing response during my racist days, as I described earlier. It was never the people who opposed my beliefs that discouraged me-I relished having them to fight-but those who seemed to agree, who might even give us a dollar or two, but who would never join us in our battle, quite possibly because they saw it correctly as such an obviously losing one.

My big-city experiences can be equated to events in rural America in recent years, where farmers in large numbers have found themselves caught in a tragic spiral of losses leading to bankruptcies, foreclosures on the land they loved and tilled and which very often had been in their families for generations, so that their displacement is not only personal but a destruction of their very history as a people. If anyone should be ripe for revolution, it is they. Recognizing that, the racists have done their best to recruit them to their cause. They have told them they are victims of an "international banker" conspiracy, although the code name is frequently dropped and "Jew" or "Zionist" used in its place. At times, just as I did at K&A, they have found what appears to be receptive audiences, have caused some hitherto secret anti-Semites to become outspoken ones, and have, here and there, gained new Converts. But apparently very few of them, causing their frustration to grow. For instance, in 1984, the racist Populist Party (which has no relationship to the original and respectable party of the same name) had a candidate for President on the ballot in four farm-belt states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas and North Dakota); he received a total of 10,000 votes out of 5.6 million cast, or one-fifth of 1 percent. A candidate can get that percentage of votes almost entirely by accident.

Should the farmers' plight ease, not only will the non-accidental racist vote decline in subsequent elections, local and national, but, I have no doubt, the racists themselves will leave the field, in part in discouragement but also because their interest in the farmer's plight has never been genuine, but has been merely self-serving. The so-called legal advice they hand out has the effect, apparently calculatedly so, of worsening the situation in order to create more propaganda opportunities for themselves. In that regard, they appear to be following in the footsteps of the communists, who equally hypocritically claimed to be coming to the aid of the farmer during the Depression years of the 1930s.

The danger from American racism, therefore, in my judgment, is not that its organizations will succeed in convincing significant numbers of people of the correctness of their views, but rather the capacity they have to wreak carnage, as their frustration grows, in the form of terrorist groups like The Order.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book about Robert Mathews and the Order, a neo-Nazi organization that carried out a series of robberies, arsons, and murdered talk show host Alan Berg. The FBI had to burn the house down with Mathews in it during a stand off. The rest of the gang was sent to prison except Thomas Martinez who flipped and became an informant.

[Madalyn]

helpful for my research but painful to read

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story was interesting, the writing was terrible.