Bad Economy May Fuel Hate Groups, Experts Warn

Experts Warn That Downturn Could Drive Discontent, Help Extremists Recruit

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 11, 2009; A04

For 20 years, Bart McIntyre has tracked white supremacist movements, even spending two years undercover in Alabama to penetrate a violent young band of criminals who called themselves the Confederate Hammerskins.

Away from his wife and young daughter, McIntyre took the alias "Mark," attended Ku Klux Klan rallies and educated himself in racist propaganda. He and a law enforcement partner ultimately helped build criminal cases that sent more than 10 men to prison for their involvement in the murder and vicious beatings of black men in the Birmingham area in the early 1990s.