Frank L Silva, also known as Frank DeSilva, a former senior member of the Ku Klux Klan and a convicted terrorist, has reportedly been meeting remotely with Irish far-right extremist groups to discuss and plan anti-immigration protests in Ireland.
Silva was a prominent figure in the US white supremacist movement in the 1980s, having been established as the ‘grand dragon’ of the Los Angeles chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Additionally, Silva was also a founding member of the neo-Nazi group known as ‘the Order’, a terrorist organisation that carried out a string of violent crimes in the United States before it was shut down by the FBI in 1984.
When he was 27 years old, Silva was arrested for federal racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with violence carried out by ‘the Order’, including the assassination of Jewish talk show host Alan Berg, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was released in 1998 after serving only 13 years of his 40-year sentence and has since written many books and articles focused on his own racist ideologies.
Over the course of the last couple of months, The Irish Times reports that Silva has been one of several US white supremacists that have remotely joined calls with Irish far-right extremist groups, offering advice on how to maximise publicity and avoid prosecution.
Among the US white supremacists aiding the Irish far-right extremists, some have even offered to help fund anti-immigration activity in Ireland, as well as offering to provide legal support to any far-right extremists facing prosecution in court.
Silva has reportedly been present in at least five of these Irish far-right meetings over the last few months. The meetings often have nearly 100 people in attendance, with several well-known Irish anti-immigration activists in their midst.
According to transcripts and recordings of these meetings obtained by The Irish Times, Silva has offered advice to Stephen Butler, a prominent anti-immigration activist involved in agitation outside a site earmarked for Ukrainian refugees in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
While video of Butler’s clash with Gardaí has been widely shared in far-right social media circles, Silva reportedly offered Butler advice on how to exploit further interactions with law enforcement to “go viral”, thus mobilising far-right sympathisers.
Silva reportedly told Butler that he should “have a minimum of five guys” with him before taking on Gardaí, using the numbers to get inside the officers’ heads.
“I’ve been there. And I knew how to handle myself,” Silva told Butler.
The Irish Times has reached out to both Silva and Butler for comment on the ties between the former Ku Klux Klan ‘grand dragon’ and the Irish far-right movement, but neither responded.
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