An abstract of
Hammerskin Nation
The
following is an abstract of a article entitled "Hammerskin
Nation," published in Intelligence Report, Issue 96, Fall,
1999, pp. 37-39. Michael Reynolds is the author of the article. The staff
of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service wrote the abstract. It
reads as follows:
"The
group known as Hammerskin Nation (HN) is the best organized, most widely
dispersed, and most dangerous Skinhead group known. For more than a
decade, the conventional view of Skinheads by law enforcement and even
some white supremacists was that they were little more than drunken street
thugs.
"Skinheads were seen as dysfunctional
youth who were in and out of jail and prone to fighting among themselves.
In this context, the Hammerskins first appeared in the late 1980's as the
Dallas-based Confederate Hammerskins and spread to other States. By 1989,
HN emerged as the unifying organization for dispersed groups and became
global within a few years.
"Like outlaw motorcycle gangs such as
Hell's Angels, HN has a strict recruitment policy that requires not only
face time with prospective members but also a 3-month probationary period.
Unlike criminal street gangs, however, HN has a focused and relatively
sophisticated political outlook.
"The organizational form adopted by HN
consists of single, decentralized, autonomously organized cells united on
the basis of a common commitment to national socialist ideology. Loyalty
to HN is paramount, but Hammerskins are permitted to also join neo-Nazi
groups such as the National Alliance and Aryan Nations.
"Some leaders of HN have been in prison
for violent crimes ranging from assaults and bombings to attempted murder
and murder, and HN vigorously and effectively recruits within juvenile
correctional facilities."