From: "dudalb" 
Subject: Confesssion in Sacramento Synagogue Bombings.
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 20:02:29 -0800
Lines: 256
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300
Message-ID: <#Se1Q0YW$GA.221@cpmsnbbsa04>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
NNTP-Posting-Host: 1cust70.tnt13.alameda.ca.da.uu.net 63.10.235.70
Path: hub.org!hub.org!hermes.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!newsfeed.enteract.com!netnews.com!howland.erols.net!news-out-b.news.pipex.net.MISMATCH!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!uunet!zur.uu.net!ffx.uu.net!cpmsnbbsb04!cpmsnbbsa04
Xref: hub.org soc.culture.jewish:434385

Remember back in Juneof 99 when three Synagogues were firebombed in
Sacramento, California how all the White Power Rangers claimed it was done
by the Jews thenselves to gain sympathy? Well ,one guess what kind of person
fessed up to it today. OF course the individual is also under indictment for
the murder of two gay men, but still it provides a interesting look in the
mentality of an "Aryan Hero" From Friday's Sacramento Bee:


1 brother confesses to arsons: Others aided attack on temples, he says

By Gary Delsohn and Sam Stanton
Bee Staff Writers
(Published Jan. 7, 2000)

REDDING -- Matthew Williams admitted to The Bee Thursday that he
helped plan and carry out last June's arson attacks on three
Sacramento-area synagogues, and said he personally helped set the
fire inside the largest of the three.

Williams, who already had confessed to the slayings last summer of
two Redding-area gay men, told The Bee in a jailhouse interview that
he set the June 18 fires with the help of up to eight other white
supremacists and that they chose Sacramento because of its
prominence as California's capital.

"It was the state capital," Williams said. "It just seemed to be a
good hit."

Williams said that he personally assembled the gasoline and oil
firebombs used at the three synagogues and that he and two other men
set the most extensive blaze, which gutted a large portion of
Congregation B'nai Israel.

"I had the crowbar," Williams said of the 3 a.m. attack. "The door
popped right open, the alarm went off. That made me pretty anxious
to get the job done and get out pretty quick.

"I was real nervous. Getting caught was an issue. Just the
excitement of it, coming in and having the alarm go off, and I knew
I was crossing the Rubicon. It was the cusp of my life where I was
putting faith in my beliefs."

Two other teams acted simultaneously to set fires at Congregation
Beth Shalom in Carmichael and Kenesset Israel Torah Center in
Arden-Arcade, Williams said.

Williams said his younger brother, Tyler Williams, had nothing to do
with the fires or the July 1 slayings of Gary Matson and Winfield
Mowder, and he said he did not know the names of the eight men who
purportedly helped him set the blazes.

Instead, he said the men kept their identities from each other.
"That's completely understandable," Williams said. "They explained
to me that if I was caught I would be on my own."

The Williams brothers, both landscapers from the Redding suburb of
Palo Cedro, have been named as the prime suspects in the synagogue
fires since their arrests July 7.

Law enforcement sources expressed skepticism Thursday about portions
of Matthew Williams' confession, saying he was trying to protect his
brother.

The sources also indicated that the investigation into the case is
focusing on whether others were involved, and that they expect the
two brothers to face federal charges in the coming weeks.

Sources emphasized that there is no evidence to suggest Williams,
who has not cooperated with investigators, was telling the truth
when he claimed to have had as many as eight accomplices.

"We're skeptical about some of the claims Williams made to the media
today based on the results of our investigation," said Jim Maddock,
special agent in charge of the Sacramento FBI office.

"The statements of a potential criminal defendant should always be
viewed cautiously and in light of the personal and political views
of the speaker," he said.

Rabbi Brad Bloom of Congregation B'nai Israel expressed similar
skepticism, but said he has always believed that more than two men
were involved.

"I hope the authorities will pursue every line of the investigation
to flush out the extent of this plot," Bloom said. "They have
committed themselves to pursuing justice and I have every faith they
will do this."

Williams' confession came two months after he admitted to The Bee
that he had killed Matson and Mowder, slayings that led to
first-degree murder charges against both brothers.

Unlike the November interview, however, when he appeared smug and
relaxed, Williams was nervous Thursday, with his hands shaking as he
held a telephone handset to speak through the bulletproof glass at
the Shasta County jail.

Williams, 31, said his involvement in the fires began when he
attended the Preparedness Expo in Sacramento last February, a
three-day event at Cal Expo geared toward survivalists and emergency
disaster preparations.

Such conferences typically attract militia followers and
anti-government zealots, and Williams said he attended hoping to
find other adherents to the world of white supremacy.
"I had on a blue backpack and I put one of those National Alliance
fliers on the back of it," Williams said. "It said, 'The White
Race, The Earth's Most Endangered Species.'

"I had that clipped to the back of my backpack hoping to meet up
with someone of like interests."

Williams said one man from south Sacramento "was really impressed
with the flier" from the National Alliance, an anti-Semitic hate
group considered among the nation's most dangerous.

The man told Williams he shared his views and invited him to join
his organization, which he declined to name.

To win membership, Williams said, he was required to take action to
prove his loyalty.

"To get into the organization you had to get involved in a group
activity to do something of significance for the movement," Williams said.

That led to the plan to target the synagogues, Williams said.  They
met in the predawn hours of June 18 at a strip mall. "We all met at
a central spot and passed out the fuel," he said.

From there, Williams and two others drove to Congregation B'nai
Israel on Riverside Boulevard, across the street from William Land
Park.

One man waited in the car as a lookout. Williams went in first and
poured the gas and oil mixture onto the floor of the temple library,
where books and rare religious manuscripts are stored.

Williams said the third man trailed with a fireplace lighter and two
backup Bic cigarette lighters to set the mixture ablaze.

"We were all pretty excited about it," Williams said. "I was in kind
of a hurry. They were, too, I guess. We left behind a box with
writing on it in the library and I think one of the (fuel) jugs.

"I told them I hoped it burned because it could be used as evidence.

The library was burning well, so I thought that would all be burned up."

Williams said that after the fires were set, the groups met back at
the strip mall parking lot and headed back to their homes.  Williams
claimed the men hailed from south Sacramento, areas farther south of
the city and the Bay Area. He said he never saw or heard from the
men again.

He also insisted that his brother had not been present and was
asleep in his parents' Palo Cedro house. He has previously said his
brother also had no involvement in the murders of Matson and Mowder,
although prosecutors say Tyler Williams' handprint was found on the
murder weapon.

Since the decision by Shasta County prosecutors to seek the death
penalty against both brothers in those killings, Tyler Williams, 29,
"has been pretty upset about it," Matthew Williams said.

Tyler Williams has declined interviews, and both brothers have
entered innocent pleas in the murder case.

Matthew Williams said his success in the arson led to those slayings
as part of his desire to follow his views of religion and what he
believes are God's laws against homosexuals.

"It did embolden me," Williams said, adding that he decided after he
got away with the fires to commit what he termed the "homo-cides."

Williams and his brother were arrested in Yuba City after the bodies
of Matson and Mowder were found in their isolated home in Happy
Valley, near Redding. When the brothers were arrested, they were
found with a large cache of weapons, as well as items belonging to
the two dead men.

Federal and local authorities have focused an intense investigation
on the two brothers since their arrests and believe the pair also
were involved in the July 2 arson at a building housing offices and
a Sacramento abortion clinic.

Matthew Williams declined Thursday to discuss the abortion clinic
fire, saying he wanted to save some information for interviews with
other reporters.

However, he said he believed someone was supposed to have sent The
Bee a letter claiming responsibility for the fire, and he expressed
surprise that such a letter had not surfaced.

Law enforcement sources say the two brothers will soon be charged in
the abortion clinic fire. Evidence linking the men to the fire
includes a crowbar with paint scrapings from the abortion clinic
door and coveralls impregnated with broken glass from the door.

Both items were found in the brothers' car, sources said.

Williams said he was not concerned about the possibility that he
will face execution over the slayings and said it is more important
that his views and beliefs are aired publicly.

"I'm not worried about that at all," Williams said. "What is
important is that my people survive, that my people see the truth.
It's not all for naught. We are living in a police state and that's
a fact."

- 30 -

Notice the skepticism on the part of the police is not to whether the
suspect did it or not but as to whether more people were involved then
Williams indicated. Anyway once again we get an example of the bravery of
the Nazis. Breaking into a house of worship in the middle of the night and
setiing it afire. That really take guts . Almost as much as opening fire on
a bunch of elementary school kids. My contempt for these guys grows every
day.....

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor