White Supremacist, Neo-Nazi Propaganda With Swastika Images Found In Jewish Section Of Pittsburgh
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Amid fears that Neo-Nazism is on the rise nationally, there's apparently a white supremacist flier campaign going on in the city's East End.
Some have swastikas and others say "White People Rock." But all are marked as being produced by something called "The Creativity Alliance," which is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a neo-Nazi group.
One flier was found at the Anderson Playground in Schenley Park. Fliers were also dropped here on Bartlett Street in Squirrel Hill, but the affected property owners declined to comment.
In fact, until now, both Pittsburgh Police and the FBI asked us not to report on them so as not to cause alarm, or give them undo attention.
But, now, the FBI confirms the activity in a statement:
"The FBI is aware of the neo-Nazi and white supremacist literature that has been distributed over the past several weeks in Squirrel Hill. The FBI cannot initiate an investigation based solely on an individual's exercise of the First Amendment or other Constitutional rights. We will, however, investigate activity which may constitute a federal crime or pose a threat to national security."
In the past two weeks, KDKA has received several emails from a sender claiming to represent the group, claiming in racist and anti-Semitic language of plans to blanket the city with the hate literature.
The emails also identify the group's Pennsylvania leader as the local neo-Nazi Hardy Lloyd, who was recently released from prison and was caught on video disrupting an anti-hate demonstration in Mount Lebanon.
Lloyd was accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend in Squirrel Hill in 2004, but pleaded self-defense and was acquitted on homicide charges.
Then, in 2009, he was sentenced to prison for violating his probation by going on the internet, praising convicted police murderer Richard Poplawski, and illegally possessing an arsenal of firearms.
At the time, his attorney said Lloyd was mentally ill.
"He's a very sick and complicated individual and part of illness was manifested in the ranting that were being spewing on the internet," said attorney John Knorr, in December of 2009.
Under the terms of his new probation Lloyd cannot own firearms and cannot use the internet to engage in terrorist activity.
For now law enforcement can find no credible threat, but you can be sure they are keeping a close eye on the entire situation.
