Nicholas Welker, also known as “King of Wrath,” leader of a white supremacist group in San Jose, was arrested last Tuesday after being charged in federal court in Brooklyn with conspiring and making death threats against a journalist.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the complaint accuses Welker, the former leader of the Feuerkrieg Division (FKD), an international racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist group, of posting death threats against a Brooklyn-based journalist on a public online forum.
Welker's supporters also tweeted death threats at the journalist for reporting on the extremist group.
“As alleged, Nicholas Welker used threats of violence in an effort to prevent a journalist from reporting on the white supremacist hate group he led. He sought to stifle free speech and to intimidate and instill fear in a journalist and the journalist’s employer, a well-known media organization,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace.
"We will not hesitate to prosecute those who threaten the fundamental values on which our society was founded, including freedom of the press," he added.
Peace highlighted the investigative work of the FBI's New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, the New York City Police Department and more than 50 federal, state and local agencies, as well as the FBI's San Francisco Field Office.
“As alleged, Mr. Welker and those he encouraged attempted to silence a journalist with threats of violence. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are integral to our nation, and we will not allow them to be curtailed through violence or intimidation. Today’s action serves as a reminder to anyone willing to attack these rights: the FBI will do everything in our power to fulfill our mission of protecting the American people and defending the Constitution,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in New York.
Welker’s threat included an image showing a gun pointed at the journalist’s head with the words “Race traitor,” while over the journalist’s eyes was written “JOURNALIST, FUCK OFF! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.”
The threat stresses that the journalist "works as a reporter" at a media company and is "responsible for harassing our boys for information."
After Welker posted the threat on an online forum, Welker’s two underage co-conspirators — who were also members of the white supremacist group — tweeted the threat directly to the journalist’s Twitter handle, hoping that the journalist would see the death threat and stop reporting.
As alleged in the complaint, Welker was the leader of an extremist group whose members share the common goal of challenging laws, social order and government through terrorism and other violent acts, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said.
The supremacist FKD organization, with members at home and abroad, encourages attacks against racial minorities, the Jewish community, the LGBTQ+ community, the US government, journalists, and critical infrastructure.
If convicted, Welker faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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