White Supremacist Gang Members Accused of Murder, Kidnapping
WHITFIELD: All right, live pictures right now out of El Paso, Texas where at any moment former Congressman Beto O'Rourke is expected to take to the stage in his first official address as a Democratic presidential candidate. And of course, we'll keep watching that and bring it to you live as it happens. Meantime, less than two weeks after President Trump denied the threat from white nationalism being on the rise, a major announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice about a white supremacist gang known as the 1488. Federal authorities say 18 alleged members and associates operated a significant criminal enterprise, one that included murder, kidnapping, assault, and drugs and weapons trafficking.</s>BRYAN SCHRODER, U.S. ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF ALASKA: The gang is prison-based like I said with approximately 50 to a hundred members. The gang is whites only, an important aspect to being a full member of the gang is their patch, a tattoo that incorporates Nazi symbols.</s>JEFFREY PETERSON, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI: The statutes that you're seeing charged today include racketeering. Racketeering on the same charges that we used to disrupt the mafia of the '80s and the '90s. They allow us to pursue not only the people that pulled the triggers but the people that called the shots.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, many of the charges, in this case, stem from the killing of a fellow gang member in 2017. One defendant is still on the loose, 37-year-old Glen Baldwin who is believed to be in Florida. Joining me right now, CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Jonathan Wackrow who was also a Secret Service agent under President Obama. So, Jonathan, the official did say this was a prison-based, you know, whites-only group, but how representative might this be of what other officials have said, a rise in white supremacists or white nationalist activity?</s>JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Absolutely. So listen, Fred, I think it's important to understand that this gang in Alaska is a prison gang. They're a criminal enterprise that follows a pretty traditional pattern of, you know, criminal activity, whether it's extortion, you know, involved in the drug trade, racketeering, et cetera. The key differentiator here is their link to different hate groups. So, the 1488 gang in Alaska is a microcosm of a larger problem. This gang affiliated and based in hate just by their name, the 14 and 88. The 14 represents a slogan that has 14 words which are the foundation for white supremacy around the world. The 88 is indication -- is an indication of their affiliation in -- to anti-Semitic groups. So, this group is representative of hate. It's a microcosm in Alaska. What happens internally to a group like this in the prison system is one thing. Once it transcends outside of the prison environment, that's really where we see a rising trend and a rising problem, is this dissemination of hate.</s>WHITFIELD: Is there any indication that that is happening while this is, you know, in-prison activity? Is there any evidence that it has infiltrated outside of?</s>WACKROW: Absolutely. Listen, you know, the discussion around the rise in white nationalism is ongoing and it's a growing problem throughout the United States and throughout the world. What we're actually seeing is let the data speak for itself. If you look at, you know, crimes that are committed by groups affiliated with white supremacy, white nationalism, they're significantly on the rise. Actually, in 2017 data will show that crimes linked and homicides linked to them have almost doubled. So, you know, the data is clear that outside of the prison walls, outside of the prison environment, you know, crimes that are committed by people who are affiliated to white supremacist groups are significantly on the rise.</s>WHITFIELD: We've seen several deadly attacks, the latest in Christchurch, New Zealand at two mosques leaving 50 people dead. You know, the gunman is a self-avowed white supremacist. So what has been learned, what has law enforcement, you know, globally learned from that case, and how is it being applied to perhaps new measures to identify potential threats that are particularly, you know, white nationalist based?</s>WACKROW: Well, listen, I think that the tragic event in New Zealand just highlighted the significant problem that white nationalism, you know, is causing on our society as a whole, but it's also highlighting the challenges by law enforcement. There's a big difference between hate speech and hate crimes. And law enforcement has to, you know, ensure that they are dealing with everything appropriately. So this isn't just a law enforcement issue to solve for the rise in white nationalism, hate speech in that narrative that goes along with it. This is a community issue, this is something that's rooted, you know, in the community that they have to rally around, developing a counter-narrative to hate. So whether it's, you know, white pride, you know, anti-Semitic, you know, sentiment, that's, you know, percolating through a community, the community combined with law enforcement has to take action around this. And we saw that, you know, rising out of New Zealand. We saw the community coming together, you know, putting up a barrier to hate saying we will not accept this in our community. That's what has to happen time and time again to mitigate this threat.</s>WHITFIELD: At the same time the casualty count was very high. It was highly publicized, you know, because it was so tragic and horrible. Did white nationalist groups feel that they became rather empowered by that kind of attention?</s>WACKROW: Well, that incident, Fred, is causing a bigger problem because that crime was committed online live streaming. So instantaneously, that hate speech was disseminated globally to tens of millions of people. The utilization of the digital domain whether it's, you know, mainstream social media networks or fringe networks disseminating this hate speech is a challenge that, you know, everyone faces right now. How do you counteract that rapid dissemination of hate, and in that instance, the desensitization -- desensitize the violent act? It was live streamed. It looked like a video game, and it's constantly on my phone, people are sending it to me saying, hey, have you seen this. So even though Facebook has said that they took down that live stream, it's still out there, still being disseminated. So, that's the challenge for our society today.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Jonathan Wackrow, thank you so much.</s>WACKROW: Thanks a lot.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, new questions are emerging after charges against actor Jussie Smollett were suddenly dropped. The prosecutor in the case now saying she welcomes an investigation of her decision. What she had to say next. And, we're live in El Paso, Texas where 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke soon to officially kick off his campaign, and he'll be taking to the stage. We'll take you there when it happens.