In part two of the life of the Forrest Gump of fascism, Frank Sweeney leads the CIA on an international goose chase, befriends and then betrays a serial killer, and just can't stop committing crimes by mail.

In part two of the life of the Forrest Gump of fascism, Frank Sweeney leads the CIA on an international goose chase, befriends and then betrays a serial killer, and just can't stop committing crimes by mail.

Weird Little Guys is a weekly show about the worst people you’ve never heard of, taking you beyond the headlines to get to know the race warriors and aspiring terrorists trying to unravel the fabric of our society. Weaving together the origin stories of modern American white supremacist groups and the crimes that land their members in court, independent journalist Molly Conger exposes the monsters for what they really are - some weird guy. Whether they’re conspiring to build bombs or serving swastika shaped cookies at a dinner party, the weird little guys trying to destroy America are a little less scary with their masks off. 

Weird Little Guys is a weekly show about the worst people you’ve never heard of, taking you beyond the headlines to get to know the race warriors and aspiring terrorists trying to unravel the fabric of our society. Weaving together the origin stories of modern American white supremacist groups and the crimes that land their members in court, independent journalist Molly Conger exposes the monsters for what they really are - some weird guy. Whether they’re conspiring to build bombs or serving swastika shaped cookies at a dinner party, the weird little guys trying to destroy America are a little less scary with their masks off.

Investigative journalist Molly Conger takes you beyond the headlines to examine some of the worst people on the planet, most of whom you’ve never heard of. These are the weird little guys trying to ruin life as we know it.

Weird Little Guys

Soldier of Misfortune: Frank Sweeney, Pt. 2

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/6cc4908e-0c12-466a-bd6c-b1e1012ddb93/transcript

As we approach the end of the series on nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin, the rest of the timeline is filled in. Shortly after murdering two young men in Utah, Franklin was arrested at a motel in Kentucky after calling to complain that a police car had him double parked.

Sources:

Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011

Ralph Echols, Life Without Mercy: Jake Beard, Joseph Paul Franklin and the Rainbow Murders, 

Sunshine, Spencer (2024). Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge

Flynn, Kevin, and Gary Gerhardt. The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America's Racist Underground Free Press ; Collier Macmillan, 1989.

As we approach the end of the series on nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin, the rest of the timeline is filled in. Shortly after murdering two young men in Utah, Franklin was arrested at a motel in Kentucky after calling to complain that a police car had him double parked. Sources: Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011 Ralph Echols, Life Without Mercy: Jake Beard, Joseph Paul Franklin and the Rainbow Murders, Sunshine, Spencer (2024). Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason&rsquo;s Siege (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge Flynn, Kevin, and Gary Gerhardt. The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America's Racist Underground Free Press ; Collier Macmillan, 1989.

One Man Race War: Joseph Paul Franklin, Pt. 6

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/93b9d097-8d30-4579-94b9-b40a01400ffb/transcript

Just about every source of information about nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin gets the name of one of his victims wrong. In my search for information about the man who was murdered in Falls Church, Virginia in August of 1979, I came up mostly empty. We've erased a man from the story of his own murder because it's easier to tell a story about a racist than it is to talk about racism. 

Sources:

Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011

Moon, V. The middleburg mystique: A peek inside the gates of Middleburg, Virginia. Waverley Lee Media, LLC. 2016

Matthew Exline, We Have Been Waiting Too Long: The Struggle Against Racial Segregation in Loudoun County, Virginia. Have History Will Travel Press, 2020.

Carole Townsend, Blood in the Soil. Skyhorse, 2016

Douglas, John E., Ann W. Burgess, et al. Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes. John Wiley and Sons, 2006.

The Study of the Operation of Segregated Schools in Loudoun County, Virginia conducted by Teachers in the Movement Oral History Project Research Team University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development 
https://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/214704/The-Study-of-the-Operation-of-Segregated-Schools-in-Loudoun-County-Virginia_FINAL 

https://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/index.cfm?fa=newsinfo.displayContent&theFile=content/deathPenalty/trial


https://www.aclunorcal.org/app/uploads/2010/03/costs_of_death_penalty_trials.pdf


https://fds.duke.edu/db?attachment-34--1667-view-301


https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/259-0162-0007_ShilohBaptistChurch_2017_NRHP_FINAL.pdf


https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/04/26/middleburg/74b1854a-dca2-4b45-8bc5-7999ab4e015c/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/05/loudoun-county-segregated-schools-reparations/ 

http://www.virginiaplaces.org/government/constitution1902.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/08/21/turner-raymond-elton/4ae0ab2f-ef82-477d-a8f8-39ababc4c72c/ 

https://edwinwashingtonproject.org/files/original/62047/1014789_EWP_2-5A_Yr_1930_CountyWide_on_Gibbons_Lot.pdf

Just about every source of information about nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin gets the name of one of his victims wrong. In my search for information about the man who was murdered in Falls Church, Virginia in August of 1979, I came up mostly empty. We've erased a man from the story of his own murder because it's easier to tell a story about a racist than it is to talk about racism. Sources: Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011 Moon, V. The middleburg mystique: A peek inside the gates of Middleburg, Virginia. Waverley Lee Media, LLC. 2016 Matthew Exline, We Have Been Waiting Too Long: The Struggle Against Racial Segregation in Loudoun County, Virginia. Have History Will Travel Press, 2020. Carole Townsend, Blood in the Soil. Skyhorse, 2016 Douglas, John E., Ann W. Burgess, et al. Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes. John Wiley and Sons, 2006. The Study of the Operation of Segregated Schools in Loudoun County, Virginia conducted by Teachers in the Movement Oral History Project Research Team University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development <a href="https://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/214704/The-Study-of-the-Operation-of-Segregated-Schools-in-Loudoun-County-Virginia_FINAL">https://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/214704/The-Study-of-the-Operation-of-Segregated-Schools-in-Loudoun-County-Virginia_FINAL</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/index.cfm?fa=newsinfo.displayContent&amp;theFile=content/deathPenalty/trial">https://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/index.cfm?fa=newsinfo.displayContent&amp;theFile=content/deathPenalty/trial</a>
 <a href="https://www.aclunorcal.org/app/uploads/2010/03/costs_of_death_penalty_trials.pdf">https://www.aclunorcal.org/app/uploads/2010/03/costs_of_death_penalty_trials.pdf</a> <a href="https://fds.duke.edu/db?attachment-34--1667-view-301"></a>
<a href="https://fds.duke.edu/db?attachment-34--1667-view-301">https://fds.duke.edu/db?attachment-34--1667-view-301</a> <a href="https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/259-0162-0007_ShilohBaptistChurch_2017_NRHP_FINAL.pdf"></a>
<a href="https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/259-0162-0007_ShilohBaptistChurch_2017_NRHP_FINAL.pdf">https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/259-0162-0007_ShilohBaptistChurch_2017_NRHP_FINAL.pdf</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/04/26/middleburg/74b1854a-dca2-4b45-8bc5-7999ab4e015c/"></a>
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/04/26/middleburg/74b1854a-dca2-4b45-8bc5-7999ab4e015c/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/04/26/middleburg/74b1854a-dca2-4b45-8bc5-7999ab4e015c/</a>
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/05/loudoun-county-segregated-schools-reparations/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/05/loudoun-county-segregated-schools-reparations/</a>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.virginiaplaces.org/government/constitution1902.html">http://www.virginiaplaces.org/government/constitution1902.html</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/08/21/turner-raymond-elton/4ae0ab2f-ef82-477d-a8f8-39ababc4c72c/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/08/21/turner-raymond-elton/4ae0ab2f-ef82-477d-a8f8-39ababc4c72c/</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://edwinwashingtonproject.org/files/original/62047/1014789_EWP_2-5A_Yr_1930_CountyWide_on_Gibbons_Lot.pdf">https://edwinwashingtonproject.org/files/original/62047/1014789_EWP_2-5A_Yr_1930_CountyWide_on_Gibbons_Lot.pdf</a>

Raymond Turner

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/2f12ccfe-99df-4463-946f-b4030162429d/transcript

After Joseph Paul Franklin was arrested in 1980, prosecutors all over the country were waiting their turn to try him for murder. After a federal prosecutor failed to convince a jury that shooting a man just for being black was a civil rights violation, they lost their confidence. But Joseph Paul Franklin was desperate to get out of the federal prison where he was serving his first few life sentences.

Sources:

Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011

Thomas Martinez, Brotherhood of Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of The Order. McGraw Hill, 1988

Jessica Mitford, Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business, New York, Vintage Books, 1973

Devins, Neal, "Reagan Redux: Civil Rights Under Bush" (1993). Faculty Publications. 429.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/429

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/06/28/reynolds-nomination-voted-down/115c0520-c848-4c17-a302-209a9a9d5a4a/

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/28/us/senate-committee-rejects-reynolds-for-justice-post.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/07/us/us-rights-official-discounts-tension.html

https://virginiamercury.com/2019/04/22/can-a-local-prosecutor-decide-to-just-stop-prosecuting-marijuana-cases-the-va-supreme-court-will-decide/

https://www.hcpros.org/case-vault-1

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/09/us/slayer-faces-trial-in-2-apparently-racial-killings.html

https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_v._Lanza

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-5/dual-sovereignty-doctrine


https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7299259/united-states-v-fields/

https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Utah-AG-Report.pdf

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4403054/mitchell-v-roberts/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-02-mn-747-story.html 

https://people.umass.edu/~kastor/ceml_articles/cu_in_us.html 

https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC3_scans/3.journal.prisons.prisoners.griffin.1993.pdf 

https://concrim.asc41.com/wp-content/uploads/j32.pdf 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/23/murders-of-blacks-baffle-us-officials/f8eefeac-1ca3-48de-85a0-4b9db645b01e/ 

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/24/us/study-accuses-justice-dept-of-waging-attack-on-civil-rights-laws.html 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/10/marion-prison-lockdown-thomas-silverstein-how-a-1983-murder-created-america-s-terrible-supermax-prison-culture.html

After Joseph Paul Franklin was arrested in 1980, prosecutors all over the country were waiting their turn to try him for murder. After a federal prosecutor failed to convince a jury that shooting a man just for being black was a civil rights violation, they lost their confidence. But Joseph Paul Franklin was desperate to get out of the federal prison where he was serving his first few life sentences.
Sources: Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011 Thomas Martinez, Brotherhood of Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of The Order. McGraw Hill, 1988 Jessica Mitford, Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business, New York, Vintage Books, 1973 Devins, Neal, "Reagan Redux: Civil Rights Under Bush" (1993). Faculty Publications. 429. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/429 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/06/28/reynolds-nomination-voted-down/115c0520-c848-4c17-a302-209a9a9d5a4a/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/06/28/reynolds-nomination-voted-down/115c0520-c848-4c17-a302-209a9a9d5a4a/</a>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/28/us/senate-committee-rejects-reynolds-for-justice-post.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/28/us/senate-committee-rejects-reynolds-for-justice-post.html</a>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/07/us/us-rights-official-discounts-tension.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/07/us/us-rights-official-discounts-tension.html</a>
<a href="https://virginiamercury.com/2019/04/22/can-a-local-prosecutor-decide-to-just-stop-prosecuting-marijuana-cases-the-va-supreme-court-will-decide/">https://virginiamercury.com/2019/04/22/can-a-local-prosecutor-decide-to-just-stop-prosecuting-marijuana-cases-the-va-supreme-court-will-decide/</a>
<a href="https://www.hcpros.org/case-vault-1">https://www.hcpros.org/case-vault-1</a>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/09/us/slayer-faces-trial-in-2-apparently-racial-killings.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/09/us/slayer-faces-trial-in-2-apparently-racial-killings.html</a>
<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_v._Lanza">https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_v._Lanza</a>
<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-5/dual-sovereignty-doctrine">https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-5/dual-sovereignty-doctrine</a> <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7299259/united-states-v-fields/"></a>
<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7299259/united-states-v-fields/">https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7299259/united-states-v-fields/</a>
<a href="https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Utah-AG-Report.pdf">https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Utah-AG-Report.pdf</a>
<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4403054/mitchell-v-roberts/">https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4403054/mitchell-v-roberts/</a>
<a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-02-mn-747-story.html">https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-02-mn-747-story.html</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://people.umass.edu/~kastor/ceml_articles/cu_in_us.html">https://people.umass.edu/~kastor/ceml_articles/cu_in_us.html</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC3_scans/3.journal.prisons.prisoners.griffin.1993.pdf">https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC3_scans/3.journal.prisons.prisoners.griffin.1993.pdf</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://concrim.asc41.com/wp-content/uploads/j32.pdf">https://concrim.asc41.com/wp-content/uploads/j32.pdf</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/23/murders-of-blacks-baffle-us-officials/f8eefeac-1ca3-48de-85a0-4b9db645b01e/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/23/murders-of-blacks-baffle-us-officials/f8eefeac-1ca3-48de-85a0-4b9db645b01e/</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/24/us/study-accuses-justice-dept-of-waging-attack-on-civil-rights-laws.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/24/us/study-accuses-justice-dept-of-waging-attack-on-civil-rights-laws.html</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/10/marion-prison-lockdown-thomas-silverstein-how-a-1983-murder-created-america-s-terrible-supermax-prison-culture.html">https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/10/marion-prison-lockdown-thomas-silverstein-how-a-1983-murder-created-america-s-terrible-supermax-prison-culture.html</a>

One Man Race War: Joseph Paul Franklin, Pt. 5

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/d5b03e3e-4e78-4260-972b-b3fc015788c1/transcript

Soldier of Misfortune: Frank Sweeney, Pt. 2

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