NEW YORK TIMES, JULY' Bg3SB8Qffi§BI
m , ■ . new iuni\ rimca, july iy, 19»U,rTTUes7iaywi»>vmia..-^ a>,.,.,„.^rw> . \
Nazis Say U.S. Infiltrator Encouraged Them to Take Guiis to Qreerisboro R|(il
By'WENTJF.LLRAWLSJr.
tptclll wniKn Y«* TlM
GREENSBORO, N.C, July 14 - An un-
■ darcover Federal i|ent Infiltrated ■ unit
or the American Nul Party, encouraged
lu momUri to become a revolutionary
(roup, and wai present at planning aeav
noni (or the Nov. 3 countarderawulra-
lion that mulled In the deatha of five protesting memberi of the Communist
Workers Party here, several Nazis in this
area have alleged.
Tha agent, Identified as Bernard Butkovlch of tha Cleveland office of the
Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, waa also ac-
cused by the Naxia of offering to train
them in auch activities as making pipe
bombs and firebombs, offering to help
i them obtain such other explosives aa
1 hand grenaUtni, encouraging them to arrn
themselves) Illegally with automatic
weapons, suggesting (he aaaaaslnatlon of
a nvul Ku Klux Klan leader and offering
to help bide fugitives after the shootings.
Joseph Ultln, a spokesman for the
Treasury Department, said today In
Soshington that an Internal investigation
Mr, Butkovich'e activities was under*
taken Immediately after the Nov. 3 shoot-
ings and that "we found nothing Inappropriate In his role u an undercover
Agent Unavailable for Comment
Mr. Bulkovich, who was said to be stay.
ing in a Cleveland hotel, waa unavailable
to Tho New York Tlmee today. But he
was quoted by Martha Woodall, a re-
porter for The Qreenaboro Record who
wrote of Mr. Butkovich'i activities after
• five-week Investigation, as saving: "We
have a policy In the bureau, I can't respond to anything. I wish I could sit down
and talk to you. lTm sura I could enlighten
you."
Jury selection In tha first-degree murder trie) of six Klan and Nazi members
entered its fifth week here today. The six
are accused of attunding a Communist-
sponsored "Death to in* Klan" rally
Volkovich are defendants in the trial.
John Wutra, apeclal agent In charge of
the Treasury bureau's operations In
North Carolina, did not return a report-
er'sphone call today. But he was quoted
In The Record aa saying of Mr. Bulkovich, "In view of the pending trial, It
would be Impf oper to discuss anything be
was working on at tha time. It Is very possible he might have played a role and
might be considered by some factors to
be a witness."
Mr. Butkovlch's name does not appear'
on the list of 773 witnesses tho prosecution I
has said It may call to testify.
Mr. Westra added that he "would be
very shocked If, In fact, he did any of
those things or any agent did — I don't believe he did."
Rules for Agenta Studied
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearm* dona not permit tta undercover
agenta to provoke crimes or engage In entrapment. The Treasury Department ha*
been conducting a study of all undercover
activities by its agents with the Intent oi
producing specific guidelines of the sort
used by the Justice Department.
In a telephone Interview from his office
In Raleigh, Harold A. Covington,'tha
leader ofthe National Socialist Party ol
America, who received M.000 votes la the
recent Republican primary election for
Stale Attorney General, gave the follow-1
Ing account of how Mr. Butkovlch made l
his first contact with the Nazi group on I
June 34, 1878, at a rally for the White i
Power Party In Parma, Ohio. I
The rally waa followed by a news con-1
ferenco at a nearby hotel, and Mr. Butkovlch approached Mr. Covington about
Joining the party. Mr. Butkovlch said he
was a driver for the McLean Trucking
Company, that he was being transferred
to Wlnslon-Saiem, N.C, and asked 11
there waa a Nail unit there.
The news conference at tho hotel was
disrupted by two duren protesters,' wielding baseball buts, who asserted that th«y
ware members of the Jewish Defense
League, the Nazi loader said, and Mr.
Butkovlch gave a good account of himseli
ulng Struggle and chair-throw-
Police of fleers restraining suspects after toe shooting Incident last November
that left live person* dead in Greensboro, N.C.
"hree weeks later Mr. Butkovlch
jhowed MP In Winston Salem end was
, welcomed; Into tho small unit there after
I Mr. Covington vouched for his perform-
lance In the Ohio melee. He provided nei
ther an address nor a telephone number average guy across the street," Mr
and he asked that his party mall be sent
to the home of Roland Wayne Wood, another member, because he did not want
his employer to learn of his of filiation.
Mr. Wood is one ol the six defendants In
the murder trial.
Gorrell Pierce, a member of Mr, Cov
ington's Nazi group who fprrnerlv was •
Grand Dragon of the Klan, said he did not
trust Mr. Butkovlch from the beginning,
"lie was a very neat, nice person, youj
Pierce said in a telephone interview from
Ibis farm at Belows Creek, N.C. "But he
'was not really Interested. He was only active In big meetings, ones where a lot ol
people attended."
> It was not long after Mr. Butkovlch':
arrival, Mr. Covington said, that the
agent began suggesting activities for the
group and amusing suspicion.
"He would say, 'We've got to have a
real revolutionary group here.' 1 Mr-
Covington recalled. "He said we needed
- training and that he would teach us how
to convert semiautomatic rifles Into auto
malic weapons.'* ■;■• ' *%
- "Ho brought an automatic weapon with
him and tried to get several of.ua to keep
It at our homes. I told him to get rid of it
because party members are not allowed
to have illegal weapon!, around. We don't
keep dynamite:and that kind of thing
around." i.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pierce said, he wat
having other party members who drove
trucks for McLean ask around about Mr,
Bulkovich. None of them had heard ql
him, he said, and his name did not turn up
In personnel records. . .-.. .
The company baa sa'd that Mr. Dutko
vlch was not in Its employ and that nc
permission had been granted tq!thi
Treasury bureau to use Its name in "
undercover operation. '. •,'.,rH.'./.'
'A Man to Be Watched/1 f\ .
Mr. Pierce said he was "already con
vinced that Bulkovich did not add up and
was a man fo be watched" when the pew
member participated with them' in s
major meeting, on Sept. 22, 187&. where
the Nazis, several Klan factions and
other right-wing organizations formed a
group called '/Tee United Racist Front."
Mr. Pierce said that Mr. Bulkovich at
tended the meeting with an expensive
camera — "belter than the average gu>
carries for his photo album" r- and took
pictures of several members. Mr. Butkovlch had Mr- Covington's permfoslon tc
take the, pictures for use In party literature, be said, and though they were to be
given to the party soon after the rally,
Weeks passed before Mr. Butkovict
produced them.
Because of their suspicions thai Mr
Butkovlch was an infiltrator, ho was excluded from a unit leaders' conference ai
the home of Mr. Wood on Oct. XX. '
But on Nov. 1, according to Mr. Coving
ton and Mr. Pierce, Mr. Butkovicl
Showed up for a news conference at Mr
Wood's home. The news conferenc* |
preceded the meeting where the counter-* I
demonstration against the Communlsts\
two days later was planned. j
Mr. Covington said he had planned tc
call Mr. Butkovlch aside and "ask his
what his game was. But when the meet- ■
ing was over he left before we could get s >
chance to talk to him." - j:
i Left Meeting After Decision j'
According to Mr. Covington. Mr. But- -
kovlch departed as soon as the Nazis hac '
agreed to participate In what tliey Insist
was planned as an unatTned protest
aga Inst the Communists.'
The following evening. Nov. 2, Mr. But ;
kovlch waa also present for another meet i
log about the trip to Greensboro. Mr. Cov- r
ington said, but did not show up at the
counterdemonstration.
The afternoon after the shooting, Mr
Bulkovich allegedly tried to find three oi
the men who had become fugitives aftei
the shooting, and said he was planning u
take thiee of the Nazis and hide them ate i
big farm in Ohio. -
Mr. Pierce recalled tha( Mr. Butkovicl
bad suggested during the planning meeting that the Nazis take weapons to the
rally in the trunks of their cars, which U
legal Id North Carolina.
According to Mr. Covington, Mr. But
kovlch later appeared at the Guilforc
County Jail, where Mr. Wood had beer ■
taken after his arrest in the shootings.
Mr. Wood was placed in a small interview -
room where Mr. Butkovlch entered ark ,'
the i wo were left unattended.
Mr. Covington said that Mr. Wood tok ;
him that Mr. Butkovith asserted thai ■
three other Nazis were awaiting orders '
appear responsible for the act.
Mr. Wood refused and suggested thai
suggested i
Mr. Butkovlch tell the others to surrendei
to authorities, Mr. Covington said.
'I don't think that he was in 'the under
. er role* for a short lime." Mr. Piero
said. "I think he was planning to dig U
deep, but the Greensboro shooUn*
changed all that."
Civil Rights Greensboro
