Incident Summary:
06/18/1974: Prominent and controversial Jewish radio talk-show host who was an outspoken opponent of racism, Alan Berg, was murdered by members of The Order outside his residence at 1445 Adams Street in Denver, Colorado, United States. After following and watching Berg's actions for a few hours on the night of his murder, at about 9:21pm, Robert Mathews, David Lane, and Bruce Carroll Pierce, watched Alan Berg pull into his driveway, at which point Pierce came up to Berg as he was exiting his Volkswagen Beetle, and shot him thirteen times point-blank in the head and body with a .45 caliber cartridges from a automatic Ingram MAC-10 machine gun. Berg suffered about thirty-four wounds, and died instantly. Four members of the group were indicted for his murder under the charges of violating Berg's civil rights: David Lane, Bruce Carroll Pierce, Jean Margaret Craig, who helped to gather information in an intelligence folder on Berg's life and whereabouts for about three weeks before his murder, and Richard Scutari, who helped to devise the plan of action for the murder. Only Lane and Pierce were convicted and sentenced for the crime.
Overview
GTD ID:
198406180010
When:
1984-06-18
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Colorado
City:
Denver
Location Details:
at the driveway of residence at 1445 Adams Street
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Assassination |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Journalists & Media |
Name of Entity |
Alan Berg, prominent Jewish radio talk-show host |
Specific Description |
Alan Berg, prominent Jewish radio talk-show host |
Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Firearms |
Automatic Weapon |
Weapon Details |
Ingram MAC-10 automatic machine pistol |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Additional Information |
Berg was known for his largely liberal opinions on a variety of controversial issues, and even had a slightly combative and blunt style, that insulted many conservatives as well as the callers and guests on his show. On one of his shows, Berg humiliated Klansman and member of The Aryan Nation, David Lane, who was eventually one of his murderers, by calling him a "sick and pathetic human being." Members of the Order had Berg on their hit list long before they actually went through with his murder, which was planned and calculated far in advance, with much intelligence gathered on Berg about his daily whereabouts about three weeks before the assassination. Pierce and Lane were convicted and sentenced for the crime, while Craig and Scutari were acquitted of charges for this incident. Mathews died upon police capture in a shoot out and subsequent fire. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
3 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
2 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
1 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, "The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America's Racist Underground," The Free Press, Macmillan Inc., 1989. |
Mark S. Hamm, "Terrorism as Crime: From Oklahoma City to Al-Qaeda and Beyond," New York University Press, 2007. |
"Controversial host of 'insult radio' slain in Denver," The Baltimore Sun, June 20,1984. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties