Who is Patriot Front?
On June 11, 2022, American neo-nazi group Patriot Front recently made international news for the mass arrest of 31 members and their commander Thomas Ryan Rousseau in Coeur d’Alene, ID, ahead of a gay pride event. Flagpoles, shields, shin guards and action plans were confiscated from the UHaul that the fascist group members had been riding in the cargo section. All 31 men were charged with conspiracy to riot and bailed out by the following day. Joshua Plotner of Craigmont, ID paid more than $2,200 to bail out at least seven fascists, per local news.
We’re not posting the copaganda here nor are we celebrating state involvement. However, the articles, images, and information are available with a quick internet search.
For background context on the hate group and its beliefs, Thomas Rousseau formed Patriot Front in the aftermath of 2017’s deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA. The fascist who drove his car into the crowd, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others, carried a shield and marched at the rally alongside Thomas Rousseau then of Vanguard America, a similar neo-Nazi group. For more information on James Alex Fields, click here. Soon after, Rousseau formed Patriot Front as a splinter of Vanguard America. In fact, Thomas kept the Vanguard America website (BloodandSoil dot org) and used it as Patriot Front’s internal communication hub after Charlottesville throughout 2018, until changing it to appeal to a more mainstream audience. Do note that the “blood and soil” reference, which has been taken directly from WWII Nazi propaganda, was chanted by white supremacists in Charlottesville at the torchlight march, along with “Jews will not replace us.” The Atlantic unpacks the levels of hatred and what it means to be in struggle against this violence.
While Patriot Front uses red, white, and blue patriotic imagery, the organization is unambiguously neo-Nazi/neo-fascist, their rhetoric stating that “Nationhood cannot be bestowed upon those who are not of the founding [white] stock of our people.” The organization is also fascist, an early text was titled “American Fascist Manifesto”, and involves neo-Nazis within its ranks. Since 2017, Patriot Front has also held “flash mob” events, where they are easily spotted in their uniform of khaki pants, polo shirts, ball caps, and white gaiter masks, and carrying American flags, smoke bombs or other props. At these events, their uniformed members will unload from the back of a rented U-Haul or Penske box truck, then briefly march along their planned route through the city, usually when there are few bystanders. The purpose of these marches is to generate footage for a few minutes of flashy recruitment videos for their social media channels. As well as holding flash rallies featuring masked participants, Patriot Front regularly spreads propaganda in the form of stickers, banners, and stencil graffiti. Patriot Front’s goal is often intimidation as well as recruitment of new members when members target synagogues, murals, and other public spaces with propaganda, which they refer to as activism. As commander, Thomas sets the activism quota, x amount of stickerings per member per week, x amount of banner drops, x amount of stenciling. Network Directors help carry out the required missions and with Thomas’s support plan logistics for larger mural defacements. Members are required to take pictures of their activism and post it to their internal communication server. Patriot Front members must pay full price for the stickers and stencils used for banner making or public vandalism. Members purchase propaganda materials from Thomas, the person who sets the activism quotas. Thomas does not hold employment outside of Patriot Front commander. Today, Patriot Front is one of the most active distributors of racist and antisemitic propaganda in the country, both online and via fliers, stickers, and banners. Per its manifesto, the group does not allow women to join and is actively working to create a whites-only ethnostate.
The January 2022 leaks of Patriot Front’s inner workings, white supremacist rhetoric, connections to the US military, and attempts to infiltrate mainstream conservative movements have been published widely in national media outlets.
For more information, see the full articles from The Guardian, Huffington Post, NPR military story, Ars Technica, NPR coordinated hate messages story and Vice. Following 2020’s mass anti-cop, anti-racism protests and rebellion, Patriot Front has increasingly targeted Black Lives Matter and racial justice murals for defacement. Patriot Front does this both to threaten its perceived enemies and to build notoriety for the organization. Due to the leaks, Rousseau and Patriot Front members have been concretely connected to multiple interstate attacks on Black Lives Matter, gay pride, and other progressive examples of public art: defacing and otherwise removing the originals and covering them with their own messages of hate in in IL, MO, KY, IN, MI, WA, OR, PA, NC, and RI, among others.
Conor James Ryan aka Smiter IL/Francis IL/Francis CO of Thornton, CO, employed by Executive Security International as a private investigator
[Editor’s note: The pictures of Conor in the above gallery can be found at the following links: Northern Idaho News 2022, Unicorn Riot leak 2018, Richard Spencer at MSU 2018, 2021 Training Camp, 2021 March Medic & LinkedIn 2022]
Conor James Ryan of Thornton CO, formally rejoined Patriot Front for the third time in December 2021 after performing the role of a medic at their ill-fated DC march on December 4, 2021. At that march, whispers tell that the neo-Nazi transportation from their march and back to their camp was undriveable. Over 100 Patriot Front members were stranded at their pick-up location and then at their meet-up point, their personal vehicles were damaged and unable to transport them back to their camp.
It’s important to note that the fascists have a policy that once members are granted access to the Patriot Front internal communications server, they choose a false name for themselves. That name corresponds with the state they live and their title, if applicable. In Patriot Front’s earlier years, they had a lax naming convention policy, allowing members to customize their handle. After the first leaks, Thomas homogenized membership name options, recycling a list of white male first names for anonymity and uniformity among members and network chapters in the organization.
Previous to last December, Conor was a member of the hate group after it rebranded post-Charlottesville in 2017, then he left in 2018. Conor rejoined in 2018 from 2020, when he retired from a leadership position in IL and resigned. He mentioned his contact with the FBI several times. Conor has previously used Smiter-IL and Francis IL as his identifier within Patriot Front internal communications, some of which are hosted on Unicorn Riot. He now goes by Francis CO.
Conor’s 2021 interview notes are below, proving that Conor was known as Francis IL, and outlining his past involvements:
Then Conor/Francis IL’s dedication and investigatory skill set is confirmed by Ben CO to Thomas a few days later. Ben CO recommends Conor rejoin the hate group. He also notes Conor has a professional LinkedIn, presumably for his job.
(Sidebar: Patriot Front Network Director [ND] Ben CO’s real name is Nathan Brenner and he lives in Louisville, CO.
Nathan was arrested with Conor in Coeur d’Alene, as noted by comrades at CO Springs Anti-Fascists and archived here)
Additionally, as network leadership is responsible for managing their chapters, directors typically discuss circumstances amongst themselves. The initials for their positions are indicated in front of their moniker. Directors, Scribes and PCs direct message one another about Conor’s re-entry, making some of Conor’s personal details public knowledge. First it becomes known that Francis IL moved to Colorado, as Jason, the network scribe, is checking on a former member from IL with the UT-area network director.
Further internal discussions reveal that Conor as Francis IL was the Network Direct (ND), or chapter leader, for Illinois before Anthony IL, who has since left the organization.
During his tenure as IL Network Director Francis, Conor didn’t hesitate to enforce his own standards for his men, including former member James IL. To the Utah network director, Conor confirms his previous involvement and leadership role:
In the DMs, interviewers share private details about Conor’s life, including the industry in which he works
From there, we located Conor’s employer, bolstered by the fact that the his fellow fascists discussed his personal LinkedIn as well as his industry:
Interestingly, Conor’s LinkedIn profile is no longer available possibly due to quick deletion after being bailed out from the Idaho jail. Fortunately, we captured a version of the profile. And then we compare face pics, especially zooming in on his very particular ear shape:
It’s a match. If his LinkedIn is accurate, Conor Ryan works for Executive Security International (aka ESI Bodyguard School) out of Grand Junction, CO. Conor mentions in his Patriot Front interviews that he is broke as a joke and that money was a reason he left the organization in 2020. It is unclear if he still works as a Certified Protection Specialist after being arrested in ID with a cargo hold’s worth of neo-Nazis but we’re definitely interested in finding out. [Editors note: The pictures in the gallery can be found at the following links: Unicorn Riot leak 2018, Northern Idaho News, & LinkedIn]
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Executive Security International (ESI) offers private security training classes and certificates, and appears to have an inclusive, multicultural corporate identity which must get under Conor’s skin to no end. While it’s unclear which classes Conor has taken, Conor spoke about his investigator skills with his interviewers when he was reapplying to Patriot Front. Conor shared that with regard to his “security background, [Conor] took some crazy course last summer learning how to follow people, know if you’re being followed, do secret service type work for people, do surveillance, plan ops etc. [He said that] In a lot of ways PF gave him experience to work with, scoping out areas and planning activism runs.” We can extrapolate that Conor intends to use the skills he’s gained working for and with ESI to help Patriot Front create a whites-only ethnostate, continue to commit hate crimes, propagandize for American fascism, and intimidate people of color, LGBTQ folks, women, Jews, leftists, and anyone else they deem to be unworthy.
ESI offers a host of training packages for the security and private investigation industry including Surveillance/Surveillance Detection; Executive Protection Program; Corporate Security Management Program; Tactical Medicine for the Executive Protection Professional; and Covert Protection Program. ESI also offers training programs for Executive Protection Program/Intelligence-Based Close Protection Certified Protection Specialist; Corporate Security Management Course: A Protective Intelligence Program; Certified PSD Protection Specialist, CPSDS; and Designated Defensive Marksman.
Make no mistake, Conor’s skill sets, beliefs, and involvement with neo-nazis elevate his threat potential for the Thornton, CO community and vulnerable communities across the country. We have seen him in DC and ID. Readers can jump to the Action Items section on the next page to learn who to contact at ESI to let them know that their employee is a member of a fascist organization.
We find it terribly amusing that immediately upon Conor’s reentry into the hate group, Patriot Front’s DC march chokepoints were attacked, their internal communications and unredacted face pics are leaked, their members are identified, and most recently, they’re all arrested in Coeur d’Alene, which lead to more identifications. Conor, after years of dodging accountability for his role in spreading hate and fear in the Chicagoland area, is finally outed and will face consequences at this employer as well as with his landlord. This is what happens when one joins a fascist organization pyramid scheme that’s micromanaged by a sentient cowboy hat and belt buckle. To the remaining Patriot Front fascists: get out now. Leave the hate group, deradicalize and take accountability, then rebuild your life. If you stay, we will find you. Every last one of you.
Read more to learn about Conor’s Patriot Front involvement since 2017 and things you can do to keep your community safe plus hold this neo-nazi accountable!
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