-Caveat Lector- The Spokesman-Review Friday, August, 13, 1999 http://www.spokane.net/ By Bill Morlin, The Spokesman-Review A former FBI infiltrator at the Aryan Nations compound remembers Los Angeles shooting suspect Buford Furrow Jr. as a hard-working Aryan security guard who really hated Jews. "He got the security job because he was considered to be one of the most level-headed in the group up there at Aryan Nations," former FBI informant Vince Reed said in an interview Thursday. Furrow's appointment to the Aryan security squad was made by Tim Bishop, the chief of staff for Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler from about 1994 to 1997, Reed said. Reed showed up at the Aryan Nations compound in 1992 and stayed through 1996, secretly getting paychecks from the FBI for keeping an eye on the Aryans, including Furrow. Reed's informant job ended in 1996 when he was forced to testify as a prosecution witness against a group of six Midwestern white supremacists who called themselves the New Order. They were arrested and convicted of plotting to kill a black radio show host in Missouri, a federal judge in Illinois and Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center. While working as an informant, Reed lived for a time near the Aryan Nations compound in a house he rented from Butler's friends Charles and Betty Tate. And Reed came to know Furrow "fairly well." "The earliest I can remember him there personally is 1994, but I know that he was known up there before that," Reed said. Another undercover operative who provided information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Furrow, 37, attended the 1989 Aryan World Congress. Furrow spent time with Kim A. Badynski, a former Illinois KKK leader, said the source, who asked not to be identified. Badynski, who now lives in Tacoma, heads the Northwest Knights of the KKK and has been involved with the Populist Party of Washington. Furrow also was friendly with Charles Mangles, an Aryan Nations member from Polson, Montana, " Reed said. "Charlie liked him a lot, as I recall, because he carried himself within the ranks of the Aryan Nations as a respected person," Reed said. Furrow did odd jobs around the compound and volunteered for extra hours, often pulling night duty in a guard shack labeled "whites only." The only time he wanted to step away from guard duties was when Butler or Louis Beam, the Aryan Nations ambassador-at-large, were delivering speeches, Reed said, and then Furrow had a front-row seat. Reed said while he was at the compound he never saw any outburst of temper or violence from Furrow, who was called Neal. "It seemed to be that Neal liked to take orders, you know, 'Yes, sir. No, sir,'" Reed recalled. The former informant said he didn't attend the Aryan Nations marriage of Furrow to Debbie Mathews, the widow of Robert Mathews. Mathews headed a 1980s neo-Nazi terrorist group known as The Order. But Reed did see Furrow with Clint Matthews, the teenage son of Robert Mathews. Furrow and his stepson attended the 1994 and 1995 Aryan World Congress. At one of the events, the teenager wore a T-shirt that read, "Hail, The Order." "We called him 'Little Bob,'" Reed recalled. "A lot of guys called him 'the future Bob Mathews,' because they wanted him to follow his father's footsteps, evidently." Debbie Mathews, who lives near Metaline Falls, Wash., has refused all requests for media interviews since her ex-husband surrendered Wednesday in Las Vegas. "With his hatred for Jews, it doesn't surprise me at all that he did this," said Reed, but he doesn't understand why Furrow traveled so far from his Olympia home to carry out his crimes. "He was a respected person within the Aryan Nations," Reed said of Furrow. "His views were very strong, anti-Jew, and he always expressed that." In July 1995, producers with Michael Moore's national television show "TV Nation" showed up on a public road outside the Aryan Nations's gates. The producers hired young black women to sing and dance outside the gates to the song, "Stop! In the Name of Love" by the Supremes. As the cameras rolled, the Aryans could be seen in the background giving Nazi salutes. Reed recalled that a couple of skinheads wanted to attack the performers, but Furrow interceded. "He kept everything under control." Furrow also ordered another Aryan guard in 1995 to apologize to a reporter who was told that Hitler's extermination ovens should have been kept around for members of the press. But after reporters left, Reed recalled that Furrow laughed and said, "there are a lot of Jew bastards in the media." Reed was promoted to "general" shortly before his identity was compromised by his trial testimony. Reed said when the national spotlight falls on the Aryan Nations, as it is now with the Furrow case, Butler tries to distance himself and his white supremacy organization. "He tries to weasel out of any involvement in something like this," Reed said. "But Neal's definitely a member, trust me," he said. "You can tell them that General Reed remembers him well, because I had access to the files." Reed, 48, now has a new identity and is living in a witness protection program after 25 years of work as an informant in 300 outlaw biker and white supremacy investigations. He recently suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with terminal cancer. *********** Courtesy of an AFIB subscriber. _____________________ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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