Californian neo-Nazi group revealed to contain multiple military members
Several US military members have been exposed as alleged members of a neo-Nazi ‘active club’.
Clockwork Crew, formerly Crew 562 (a reference to the area code for Long Beach, California), was founded in 2021 by Californian neo-Nazis. It is an ‘active club’, which is a growing phenomenon where white supremacists and nationalists train in combat sports and promote fascist ideals.
Mohammed Wadaa, a lance corporal with the 3rd battalion, 5th regiment of the 1st United States Marine Corps division, is alleged to be a co-founder of the Clockwork Crew. His alleged posts on the social media platform Telegram show his room in the Camp Pendleton Base to be covered in pro-Hitler posters.
The other alleged co-founder, Nicholas Daniel Large, is believed to have met Mr. Wadaa through the ‘Church of Aryaninity’, a white supremacist and neo-Nazi cult group. Mr. Large appears to manage the propaganda of the Club; it is claimed that he has been known to plaster local areas with hateful stickers, along with allegedly making death threats against Scott Weiner, a California State Senator.
He also reportedly developed the Clockwork Club logo, which is composed of multiple neo-Nazi symbols, including the black Celtic Cross, a symbol of white supremacy, and the Tyr Rune (red arrow) which was used in Nazi divisions to symbolise the goal of an ‘all-white religion’.
Mr Wadaa and Mr Large are claimed to have recruited up to twenty people from other far-right hate groups on the West Coast, such as White Lives Matter, The Golden State Skinheads and the Goyim Defence League (GDL). The GDL has been described as an antisemitic hate group whose membership reportedly contains several neo-Nazis and is understood to be led by Jon Minadeo II. The group is divided into regional branches and regularly distributes antisemitic flyers across the United States.
However, the growing concern for law enforcement is the number of members of the Clockwork Club who are part of the US military, including Mr Wadaa and Gunnar Naughton, a former Sergeant in Marine Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance battalion before he was caught stealing over 10,000 rounds of ammunition. Ezra Liel, another Clockwork Club member, enlisted in the Army National Guard in 2021 and reportedly has posted pictures of himself online with neo-Nazi chest tattoos.
One expert described Clockwork Club members’ potential to “shout people down outside of synagogues and in communities they perceive as predominantly Jewish”.
Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism throughout the United States.
