History
On April 27, 1981, Droege and eight other men, including Canadian James Alexander McQuirter and American Don Black, who later founded the white nationalist website Stormfront, were arrested by federal agents in New Orleans as they prepared to board a boat with automatic weapons, shotguns, rifles, handguns, dynamite, ammunition, and a black and white Nazi flag.
The plan was to charter a boat to Dominica and rendezvous via rubber boats with John and his makeshift army. The genesis of the idea came from long-time Klan member Perdue, who was introduced in 1979 to Droege through David Duke. That summer, Perdue outlined his plan to overthrow Grenada and to set up several lucrative businesses. After their meeting, it was established that Droege would locate funds and resources. Duke initially involved Canadian Don Andrews, but after Perdue changed the target island to Dominica, Andrews withdrew. Klansmen Arnie Polli and Roger Dermee were paid US $3,000 to visit Dominica to obtain preliminary reconnaissance. Canadian neo-Nazi Martin K. Weiche was allegedly a financial backer of the plot along with James White of Houston and L. E. Matthews of Jackson, Mississippi.
In February 1981, the captain and crew Duke had arranged, backed out. Perdue then approached a local boat captain and Vietnam War veteran, Michael S. Howell. Perdue said the Central Intelligence Agency needed his boat for a covert operation. Howell then contacted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). On April 25, John was arrested in Dominica. When Perdue learned of the arrest and that their plans were no longer secret, he insisted that the mission should continue. On April 27, the group, including three ATF agents, met at the predetermined location, loaded the van and proceeded to the marina. Local police were waiting for them at the marina.
In 1984, during an interview by Barbados's daily Nation Newspaper Sydney Burnett-Alleyne was asked if the group had planned to overthrow the government of Barbados and install John as prime minister there as well. He responded:
- He could have become prime minister, although that was not the real reason behind my plan of action. I wanted to add the land mass of Dominica to that of Barbados and also to be able to undertake an industrial project of considerable size. South African resources, millions of dollars, were available to me to be used for such a project. But Patrick John didn't do what was supposed to have done. But more than that, I became incensed when I found out he was giving away Dominican land to Americans. He lost an important opportunity to be a central figure in the history of the Caribbean.
A book about the plot, by Canadian journalist Stewart Bell, was published in August 2008.
Read more about this topic: Operation Red Dog
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