5 in Nazi prison gang convicted of murder

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Five people affiliated with a Nazi prison gang, including one who legally changed his name to Filthy Fuhrer, have been convicted in the grisly death of a member whose gang tattoo was cut off his rib cage with a hot knife before he was shot and his body was burned, a federal jury in Alaska decided Monday.

Fuhrer, 45, the gang leader who legally changed his name from Timothy Lobdell, and the others were convicted of murder, racketeering, kidnapping and assault charges.

All face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole on the murder charge when they are sentenced in federal court in Anchorage. Sentencing hearings are scheduled for October.

“Violent gangs, especially those based upon racial hatred, are a plague to our society,” U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska said in a statement.

“As this case demonstrates, the crimes of organized prison gangs often go beyond the prison walls bringing violence into our communities. Today’s convictions are a major disruption to the operation of the 1488 prison gang and hold accountable those who order or commit brutal and heinous crimes,” Tucker said.

According to federal prosecutors, Fuhrer founded the 1488 gang, which operated in prisons throughout Alaska and on the outside, or the “free world,” as members called it. Full membership is given to those committing acts of violence on behalf of the gang.

The gang requires all members to “be white, look white and act white.”

Fuhrer, who is serving a 19-year sentence for the attempted murder of an Alaska state trooper, believed some members were defying the gang’s code of conduct.

From behind bars, Fuhrer sent out a trusted member with a list of directives, which included the kidnapping and assault of two low-level members and then the kidnapping, assault and murder of Michael Staton in 2017, who Fuhrer suspected of theft, prosecutors said.