Neo-Nazi Leader Sent To Prison, Threatened Life Of BK Reporter: Feds

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The former leader of a white supremacist group was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Friday after he posted death threats against a Brooklyn-based journalist so they would stop reporting on the Neo-Nazi group, prosecutors said.

Nicholas Welker, 33, of California, was sentenced by United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen after he pled guilty to conspiring to make death threats.

Welker was the leader of Feuerkrieg Division (“FKD”), an international violent extremist group, prosecutors said.

“Welker tried to silence a journalist from reporting on his white supremacist group so that his fellow extremists could continue to commit violence against racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said. “There
were real victims of this crime—the journalist and his news media organization

The 33-year-old Welker included a photograph of the journalist with a gun aimed at his head and the words “Race Traitor” over the journalist’s eyes. The threat stated, “JOURNALIST F[***] OFF! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED,” according to court filings.

The threat listed the journalist and his employer by name. Welker posted the threat to a public online forum. In addition, two under-aged FKD members tweeted the death threat directly at the journalist’s social media handle so that he would see it, prosecutors said. Welker intended to frighten the journalist into dropping his reporting on Welker’s hate group.

Today’s sentence demonstrates that we will stand up for them and other journalists who bravely report on these violent hate groups,” Peace added.