A New England neo-Nazi group is being charged in connection with a “campaign of unlawful conduct” that has “terrorized” Americans they call “enemies of our people.”
The Massachusetts attorney general has filed a civil lawsuit against NSC-131, known as the Nationalist Social Club, and its leaders, Christopher Hood and Liam McNeil, accusing them of a series of “violent and otherwise unlawful club actions.”
The lawsuit is unique because it points to specific actions allegedly carried out by the group that go beyond their right to free speech – including storming a drag queen storytelling event and harassing migrants outside emergency shelter hotels.
NSC-131 has about 30 members – all believed to be local white men – and is capturing the “violent protests” on video to use as marketing to attract new members, as part of a growing “international” white supremacist movement.
Kristofer Goldsmith, self-described Nazi hunter and founder of the anti-fascist veterans group Task Force Butler, told DailyMail.com that the group is motivated “by a deep desire to hurt people… it's all about causing fear.”
The NSC-131 promotes its activities widely on social media in an effort to gain new recruits
NSC-131 founder Christopher Hood appeared in court last summer after a protest at a drag queen story time event – he was later found not guilty when a judge ruled the prosecution had not provided enough evidence
He said: 'The route to it for so many is that they simply want to hurt people and that believing in conspiracy theories about, for example, a 'great replacement' is just a convenient excuse to justify their desire to harm people.'
NSC-131 is just one of a growing number of white supremacist groups in the US and abroad – last month two neo-Nazi groups staged protests outside a synagogue in Georgia and Disneyland in Florida.
And last year, at least 50 different white supremacist groups flooded the country with record amounts of racist propaganda, including flyers, banners, graffiti and laser projections, according to watchdog the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
The new NSC-131 complaint was filed in Suffolk County Superior Court on December 7 and seeks “injunctive relief” and “monetary awards” for damages and victims.
It is unclear whether Hood, McNeil and the neo-Nazi group have legal representation. DailyMail.com contacted NSC-131 for comment.
The latest lawsuit alleges that between July 2022 and January 2023, the group “repeatedly targeted” Drag Queen Story Hours, children's events that promote LGBTQ inclusivity, in Massachusetts.
NSC-131 allegedly stormed the events and “attacked members of the public; engaging in other threatening, intimidating and coercive behavior; and unlawfully interfering with access to event spaces in public libraries'.
Photos from the suit show that members attacked two people outside a library in December, pushing one against a wall and stomping on the other as they fell to the ground.
When NSC-131 members participated in a drag queen storytelling event on January 14, one of them “raised his hand in the shape of a gun and made a shooting gesture toward the parents and the performer”
During another library event in December 2022, NSC-131 members reportedly attacked the library and attacked two people blocking the entrance
They allegedly punched one person in the face and attacked another person who fell to the ground
According to reports at the time, those present were terrified, with one telling the Herald News: 'It was the most disturbing thing I have seen with my own eyes in a very long time.'
Photos shared by NSC-131 of the “protests” show about two dozen people on the sidewalk, dressed in black, with masks covering their faces and a banner reading “Drag Queens are pedophiles!”
A drag queen who was targeted in Jamaica Plain last year, Patty Bourree, told GBH News after the event: 'There was fear – it was something that I felt I had to discreetly withdraw from, because I was the object of their aggression.'
A criminal lawsuit was filed against founder Christopher Hood after an altercation outside a story hour in Jamaica Plain last summer, but he was found not guilty when the judge ruled that the prosecution had not provided enough evidence.
Goldsmith says the new lawsuit addresses this because it ties all the incidents together to provide “context,” showing that the individual events are a “pattern of activity” of what he calls “an organized criminal street gang.”
His organization has investigated NSC-131 for years and compiled a 300-page dossier of evidence on their alleged illegal activities.
He said: 'NSC-131 has terrorized major cities like Boston and small towns in a number of different states across New England – so to local law enforcement it feels like a one-off incident, they don't have the context.'
But the new lawsuit, filed on December 7, brings together all the incidents, accusing the defendants of public nuisance, trespass and civil conspiracy to seek “injunctive relief, compensatory damages, civil penalties, costs and fees.”
In September, uniformed NSC members marched to the hotel grounds – where migrants were staying in an emergency shelter – and lined up in the driveway opposite the main entrance.
The club members allegedly burned flares, displayed a banner reading “Invaders Go Home” and shouted slogans such as “Refugees Go Home.”
In addition to the story time incidents, the lawsuit alleges that NSC-131 targeted hotels providing emergency shelter for recently arrived immigrants at least five times between October 2022 and October 2023.
It says the group organized “violent protests,” labeling migrants as “invaders” and saying their arrival was part of a “white replacement” plot.
The complaint states: “During the incidents, NSC-131 members entered the hotel grounds and engaged in other unlawful conduct to intimidate and threaten employees and guests and disrupt the operation of the hotels.”
Video footage of the incident shows the group holding an anti-immigrant banner, lighting torches and chanting xenophobic slurs.
Goldsmith says NSC-131 is just a “local manifestation of an international movement in the Western world.”
Since Jan. 6, 2021 — when Trump supporters and extremists stormed the Capitol — Goldsmith said larger national groups, like the Proud Boys, have shifted to a “leaderless local model” that markets itself to local men.
Using its New England roots to attract new members, NSC-131 is marketing itself on social media with targeted advertising saying, “We have an eventful year planned, now is the time to sign up and get active to join your local Nationalist Social Club'.
Goldsmith said the group also goes to Trump rallies in person to find and bring in older members.
He said the pandemic, the rise of Donald Trump and “Russia interference” trying to sow dissent have all “congealed into a toxic soup” of white supremacism.
He said: 'During the Covid pandemic, people around the world found themselves in online spaces immersed in disinformation and conspiracy theories.'
Photos shared by the group on their Telegram channel show members giving the Nazi salute during a 'Membership Ceremony'
The group also gathers to burn LGBTQ flags and film themselves for promotional content
NSC-131's membership consists of white, young to middle-aged men from the area and its presence is growing, with some of the photos and videos shared by the group receiving thousands of views.
In response to the lawsuit, the group has appealed for support and donations, telling followers: “Those in power want to control us with legal prosecution, threats and high financial penalties.”
They also promise that “like all the others before her, (Attorney General Andrea Campbell) will be beaten and embarrassed in court and in the public forum.”
Still, Goldsmith is hopeful. He said: “I believe this lawsuit will spell the end of America's most overt and hateful neo-Nazi group in the country.
“It shows that we don't have to simply stand in shock and watch these white supremacists prowl the streets and act with impunity.”