NEW YORK

     In recent months, several militias have surfaced in New
York. A number of these groups are clustered in the region
of south central New York along the New York-Pennsylvania
line. While some of the organizing in this area remains
inchoate. established militias include the Citizens Militia,
Chemung Division, founded in Chemung County in November 1994
by Jerry Loper. a self-employed excavator and landscaper.
Loper's group, which engages in paramilitary training,
receives literature from the Militia of Montana and militia
groups in Michigan. providing further confirmation that
groups in those two states serve as important propaganda
sources for militias around the country.

     Militias have also organized in nearby Tioga, Steuben,
Schuyler, Chenango, Conland and Broome Counties. In Chenango
County, militiaman Francis Catlin, who uses the code name
"Moonshiner," has said that outrage over the Waco
conflagration fueled the militia movement in upstate New
York. "We figure this country is in real bad shape," he has
commented, adding that "Jewish people" are responsible for
the financial difficulties faced by grain farmers.

     Near New York city, militias were formed in November
1994 in Dutchess and Orange Counties. The Orange County
Militia, which has more recently been known as the Committee
of Correspondence, has distributed literature incorporating
conspiracy theories from political extremist Lyndon
LaRouche. Founder Walter Reddy, while reportedly distancing
himself from the group, has also expressed the suspicion
that the federal government was involved in the Oklahoma
City bombing. Reddy stated, "It was CIA-orchestrated, from
the information I have. "


~      
ADL Fact Finding Report, "Beyond the Bombing: The Militia
Menace Grows," Anti-Defamation League, 1995.

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