Leo Vincelette Felton (born 1970, Silver Spring, Maryland) is an American white supremacist of African American descent[1] who was convicted of bank robbery and plotting to build a bomb in Boston to attack Jewish-Americans, colloquially referred to as the 2002 white supremacist terror plot.[2] Felton was released from prison in 2019 after serving 17 years [citation needed].
Early life
[edit]Leo Felton's father, Calvin Felton (b. 1930), was a black architect, while his mother, Corinne Vincelette (b. 1931), was a white voice and diction professor who became involved in the civil rights movement.[3] His parents divorced when he was two, and he was raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland.[4]
Criminal activities
[edit]Felton spent 11 years (1990–2001) in prison for the assault of a taxi driver[5][6] during a road rage incident. His prison sentence was extended for attacking two black inmates.[7] In prison, he became an organizer for white supremacist groups, organizing book reviews and exercise while obscuring his ancestry. He found inspiration from the White Order of Thule and read Francis Parker Yockey's Imperium, which led him to believe that race was spiritual instead of biological.[2][8]
Out of prison and married, Felton began an affair with Erica Chase, a 21-year-old white supremacist.[9] Felton robbed a bank with a friend from prison and forged money in order to buy materials to create a fertilizer bomb. It is unclear what the target was to be. An attendant at a donut shop spotted a counterfeit $20 Chase tried to pass her. She alerted an off-duty Boston police officer, who then arrested Felton and Chase. Felton was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2002 for bank robbery, conspiracy to commit bank robbery and other crimes.[citation needed]
Felton was released from federal custody on December 12, 2020.[citation needed]
Personal life
[edit]Felton changed his last name from Felton to Oladimu in 2008.[citation needed] He is an Odinist.[10]
See also
[edit]- American History X
- Clayton Bigsby
- Dan Burros
- Frank Collin
- Erik Jan Hanussen
- Jack van Tongeren
- Lawrence Dennis
References
[edit]- ^ Haskell, David D. (11 December 2002). "Supremacist of sentenced in bomb plot". upi.com. UPI. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
Though Felton is a self-described white supremacist, his father is a black architect and his mother a white civil rights activist.
- ^ a b Turn It Down Archived June 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ SPLCenter.org: From the Belly of the Beast Archived September 3, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Moser, Bob (18 December 2002). "Leo Felton's Prison Plot, Aryan Unit One, Hits the Streets". splcenter.org. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
- ^ "Prison for Bomb Plot Supremacist". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 12 December 2002. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
- ^ "Two with Ties to White Supremacy Suspected in Plot to Bomb Boston Sites". adl.org. Anti-Defamation League. 20 June 2001. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
- ^ Terror suspect no racist, supremacist, father says Boston Globe/July 4, 2001 By Farah Stockman
- ^ Tough, Paul (2003-05-23). "The Black White Supremacist". New York Times Magazine. p. 42. ([1])
- ^ US v. Chase and Felton 01-10198-NG, Eastern Dist. Mass.
- ^ Carless, Will (25 May 2017). "An ancient Nordic religion is inspiring white supremacist terror/". Retrieved 24 July 2018.