On the evening of June 18, 1984, Alan Harrison Berg, a 50-year-old Jewish male and controversial radio talk show host, was brutally murdered in the driveway of his Denver, Colorado, townhouse. As he stepped out of his Volkswagen Beetle, he was met by a hail of gunfire from a MAC-10 submachine gun. Berg was shot multiple times and died instantly. The assassination was carried out by members of a neo-Nazi white supremacist organization known as The Order.
Berg's outspoken liberal views and
confrontational style on his KOA radio show had made him a prominent voice in Denver, but also a target. He was known for challenging and often ridiculing the beliefs of white supremacists and anti-Semites who would call into his program. This very public platform and his Jewish heritage placed him on a 'hit list' created by The Order, a group dedicated to inciting a white supremacist revolution against what they termed the 'Zionist Occupation Government' of the United States. The group funded its activities through armored car robberies and counterfeiting.
The investigation into Berg's murder led federal authorities to The Order, a clandestine group founded by Robert Jay Mathews. While Mathews, who was believed to have acted as a lookout during the assassination, was killed in a fiery standoff with FBI agents in Washington state in December 1984, other members were eventually brought to justice. Four members of The Order were ultimately indicted on federal charges related to the killing: Bruce Pierce, David Lane, Richard Scutari, and Jean Craig.
Although prosecutors contended that Berg was targeted for being Jewish and for angering white supremacists, they did not file murder charges. Instead, the case was tried on federal charges of violating Berg's civil rights. The trial revealed that Bruce Pierce was the triggerman, while David Lane drove the getaway vehicle. A federal jury convicted Pierce and Lane for their roles in the assassination. Pierce was sentenced to 252 years in prison, and Lane received a 190-year sentence. Richard Scutari and Jean Craig were acquitted in Berg's death but were imprisoned on separate racketeering convictions. Both Pierce and Lane later died in prison.
