The Guardian identified Rinaldo Nazzaro, 46, as the real name of The Base’s ringleader
The mastermind behind the armed neo-Nazi group known as The Base has been named as an American-born man living in Russia.
The Guardian identified Rinaldo Nazzaro, 46, as the real name of the ringleader who launched the group in 2018, and who also goes by the aliases Norman Spear and Roman Wolf.
The Guardian reported that it pieced together Nazzaro’s real identity through property deeds, tax affidavits, business filings, marriage documents, and email exchanges involving the Stevens County sheriff, the FBI and a researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center.
A confidential source inside The Base was also cited by the outlet as confirming key aspects of Norman Spear’s biography to identify his real name.
An image of The Base ringleader ‘Norman Spear’ (left) is seen alongside a 1994 image of ‘Ron Nazzaro’ in the Villanova student newspaper (right)
A screen capture from a video posted to the group’s chatroom shows members conducting drills at a recent ‘hate camp’. The location is unknown.
The outlet reported that Nazzaro previously lived in Midtown Manhattan and New Jersey, but is currently believed to be in Russia, living with his Russian wife that he married in 2012 in New York City.
The revelation shines new light on the group that gained prominence earlier this month with the arrests of six alleged members, whom federal prosecutors believe planned to attend a gun-rights rally in Virginia in the hope of provoking violence and starting a civil war.
Luke Austin Lane, 22, Jacob Kaderli, 19, and Michael Helterbrand, 25, were arrested in Georgia last week on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participation in a criminal gang.
An analysis of information in charging documents by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed the group’s ‘regional training camp’ a few miles south of downtown Rome, Georgia.
An undercover law enforcement agent visited the 105-acre property in Silver Creek to participate in training with the group, according to an affidavit.
According to the affidavit, members of The Base used the compound ‘to prepare for the ‘Boogaloo,’ a term used by members of The Base to describe the collapse of the United States and subsequent race war.’
Luke Austin Lane, 22, Jacob Kaderli, 19, and Michael Helterbrand, 25, (left to right) were arrested in Georgia on Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participation in a criminal gang
Memebers of the Base are seen posing for a photo with their faces obscured
Three other suspected neo-Nazis, who are also members of that group, were arrested last week just days before they were believed to be headed to the pro-gun rally.
U.S. citizens Brian Lemley, 33, and William Bilbrough, 19, as well as Canadian Patrik Jordan Mathews, 27, were all charged with felony firearms violations.
Lemley and Bilbrough were also charged in relation to transporting and harboring an illegal alien.
The new report in the Guardian also revealed revealed that Nazzaro, through a Delaware-registered company called Base Global LLC, purchased three 10-acre parcels of undeveloped land in Ferry County, Washington for $33,000 in December 2018.
The land is reportedly used as another ‘training camp’ by the group.
According to the Guardian, members of the Base have speculated that Nazzaro is really an undercover federal agent or a Russian spy, or that the Base is a ‘honeypot’ designed by law enforcement agencies to entrap neo-Nazis.