January 22, 1997: KKK, ‘Black Dawn’ Member Charged, Convicted of Weapons Violations

Federal authorities raid the Illinois home of Ricky Salyers, a former Marine and current white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan member. They find 35,000 rounds of heavy ammunition, armor piercing shells, smoke and tear gas grenades, live shells for grenade launchers, artillery shells, and other military gear. Salyers is allegedly a member of the underground Black Dawn group of extremists in the military; he will be sentenced later in the year to serve three years for weapons violations. [Southern Poverty Law Center, 6/2001]