ST. CLOUD, Fla. – Prosecutors will begin the trial on Monday for the Osceola County man who is accused of being the ringleader of the "American Front" white supremacist group.
Marcus Faella is accused of teaching paramilitary training and other crimes. Investigators say they have evidence Faella was training an army of white supremacists to fire assault rifles, throw knives and fight in hand-to-hand combat as part of Faella's plan to begin a race war.
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The directors of American Front organization were arrested in May 2012 after the FBI raided a compound in St. Cloud, which authorities called a domestic terrorist boot camp. The state attorney's office described the AF as an anti-Semitic, white supremacist organization that is known as a domestic terrorist organization. According to arrest affidavits, the group planned for a "race war" in which they planned to kill minorities, Jews and immigrants.
Faella was arrested among 13 others in the 2012 raid of his St. Cloud compound. State prosecutors have dropped charges against 10 of his alleged accomplices. Three others pleaded guilty or no contest to some of the charges and were sentenced.
Christopher Brooks pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and received 3 years in prison. Luke Leger and Kent Ryan McLellan pleaded no contest to participating in paramilitary training and received four years of probation.
A total of 10 of the original 14 arrestees have had charges dropped, including Dustin Perry, Verlin Lewis, Mark McGowan, Paul Jackson, Richard Stockdale, Diane Stephens, Jennifer McGowan and John Wyczlinski, as previously planned.
Faella could face life in prison if convicted.