New York woman arraigned over stickers with swastikas and antisemitic messages

It was announced on Tuesday that a 49-year-old New York woman who is alleged to have links to a white supremacist organisation has been arrested after allegedly posting stickers and flyers containing swastikas and antisemitic messages.

Gina Aversano from the New Dorp neighbourhood of Staten Island was arraigned in Criminal Court on two counts of first-degree aggravated harassment and four counts of making graffiti.

District Attorney Michael McMahon said that the arrest comes after a joint investigation between the Cyber Crimes Unit run by his office and the New York Police Department’s Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism Unit.

Ms Aversano allegedly posted stickers featuring swastikas in November 2020. Between 31st December 2020 and 1st January 2021, she allegedly posted flyers from the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA) which both the ADL and the Southern Poverty Law Centre claim is a white supremacist organisation. It has a small but growing presence on Staten Island and was under investigation by the district attorney’s office early last year

NJEHA’s main form of exposure is through the distribution of flyers and stickers, which it encourages followers to print out and place in their neighbourhood. The group promotes those postings on social media sites such as Gab.

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Image credit: ADL