Criminal activity attributed to Juggalos

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The Hatchetman logo of horrorcore label Psychopathic Records, which some police departments link with criminal activity.

This article is about criminal activity attributed to Juggalo members. For the main article on the group itself, see Juggalo.

Juggalo or Juggalette (for females) is a name given to dedicated followers of the horrorcore group Insane Clown Posse or any artist on the horrorcore record label Psychopathic Records. Self-proclaimed Juggalos have been linked to numerous crimes throughout the United States, including assaults, arson, drug use and trafficking, vandalism, burglary, gang violence including drive-by shootings and assaults on rival gang members, theft, robbery, home invasion, hate crimes, necrophilia, and numerous murders, including a high-profile spree killing and murders of army officials and police officers.

In addition, Juggalos have been classified as a criminal street gang by numerous government and law enforcement entities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Gang Intelligence Center, and the states of Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, and Utah. Juggalo gang sets have been documented by law enforcement in at least 21 states, including those that do not recognize Juggalos as a gang at the state level, and Juggalo gangs have been documented in alliance with several well-known street and prison gangs including Bloods, Crips, Sureños, Folk Nation, Aryan Brotherhood, Aryan Circle, and Gangster Disciples. The National Gang Intelligence Center has reported that Juggalo gangs have spread to prisons, where Bloods and Crips sets use them for recruitment. The FBI alleges that Juggalos are one of 53 gangs that have infiltrated the United States Military in order to expand territory and recieve combat training and weapons.

Some Juggalos reject the claim that they are a gang, instead preferring to be called "family", while others embrace the gang label.

Gang classification

Although some Juggalos deny any connection to organized crime, Juggalos have been classified as a criminal street gang by numerous government and law enforcement entities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Gang Intelligence Center, and the states of Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, and Utah. Juggalo gang sets have been documented by law enforcement in at least 21 states, including those that do not recognize Juggalos as a gang at the state level.

According to the FBI, Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Washington report the most Juggalo gang activity, but criminal Juggalo sets have also been identified in in Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

The FBI also alleges that Juggalos are one of 53 gangs that have infiltrated the United States Military in order to expand territory and recieve combat training and weapons.

Arizona Department of Public Safety Detective and recognized Juggalo gang expert Michelle Vasey has stated, "We've got muliple individuals comitting gang-related crimes, gang-motived crimes, and they're using the name Juggalo."

Interactions with other criminal organizations

Juggalo gangs have been documented in alliance with several well-known street and prison gangs including Bloods, Crips, Sureños, Folk Nation, Aryan Brotherhood, Aryan Circle, and Gangster Disciples. The National Gang Intelligence Center has reported that Juggalo gangs have spread to prisons, where Bloods and Crips sets use them for recruitment.

The National Gang Intelligence Center has predicted, "The formation of rivalries or alliances to gangs outside of their group will allow the Juggalos to evolve into a more sophisticated criminal entity through associations with hardened, experienced gang members."

The National Gang Intelligence Center has also noted an unusually high number of criminal Juggalo sets in alliance with Bloods sets, but has stated that the exact reason they align themselves with Bloods sets remains unclear.

Juggalo groups with white supremacist ties

Criminal Juggalo groups have been documented in alliance with white supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups and gangs, including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Brotherhood, Aryan Circle, and Aryan Liberation Front.

Despite this, Insane Clown Posse are staunchly opposed to bigotry and racism.

Public and artist reactions

The classification of Juggalos as a criminal gang was riciduled by popular electronics maganize Wired.

Insane Clown Posse has denounced the idea that their Juggalo fanbase is gang related, and has filed a lawsuit against the FBI for their listing of Juggalos in the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, alleging that the classification has harmed their business. The lawsuit is ongoing.

Juggalo reaction to the gang classification has been mixed. Some Juggalos vehemently deny relation to gang activities, while others embrace the gang label.

Potential for violence

Some law enforcement agencies and officials have expressed concern at Juggalos' high potential for violence.

The FBI's 2011 National Gang Assessment Threat has stated that "criminal Juggalo groups pose a threat to communities due to the potential for violence, drug use/sales, and their general destructive and violent nature."

The National Gang Intelligence Center's report on Juggalos states that, "Their crimes are characterized by acts of violence and destruction directed against law enforcement, members of the community, public/private property, and other members of their group."

Arizona Department of Public Safety Detective and recognized Juggalo gang expert Michelle Vasey has also expressed concern at the Juggalos high potential for violence, stating "The weapons, they prefer, obviously, hatchets...We've got battle-axes, we've got machetes, anything that can make the most violent, gruesome wound," and "Some of the homicides we're seeing with these guys are pretty nasty, gruesome, disgusting homicides, where they don't care who's around, what's around, they're just out to kill anybody."

Verified law enforcement officers at the popular police support forum RealPolice.net have stated that, "The ones around here definitely act like a gang, and since they prefer edged weapons, we've had a bunch of stabbings and cuttings...Members here have robbed 7-11's and random people by displaying knives and hatchets, and have assaulted members of other gangs as well."

Several Juggalo-related murders have been committed with exotic edged weapons, including hatchets, machetes, and medieval battle-axes.

Juggalo-on-Juggalo violence has also been documented. In 2010, a gang calling itself the Juggalo Killers, which is aligned with the white supremacist prison gang Aryan Liberation Front, violently assaulted a fellow Juggalo member, stealing her belongings and carving the letters "JK" into her chest.

Notable murder cases

Self-proclaimed Juggalos have been linked to several high-profile murder cases.

Jacob D. Robida

About midnight on February 2, 2006, self-proclaimed Juggalo Jacob D. Robida entered Puzzles Lounge, a popular gay bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts, 50 miles (93 km) south of Boston. The 18-year-old, dressed in black, proceeded to order a drink using a fake ID indicating he was 23. After downing his first drink, he asked the bartender if the lounge was a gay bar. The bartender confirmed it was. After a second drink Robida then swung a hatchet at a patron's head, injuring him. Other patrons tackled him and relieved him of the weapon, whereupon Robida produced a handgun and began shooting, wounding at least three more people.

Robida fled the scene in a green 1999 Pontiac, wanted by police on three counts of attempted murder. Police treated the incident as a hate crime. In total, four people were seriously hurt.

Police immediately began a manhunt for Robida and raided his mother's home in New Bedford. She told them she had last seen him at 1am bleeding from the head and that he had left soon after. They found weapons of all types, including hatchets, knives, handguns and a shotgun. In his bedroom they found "Nazi regalia" and anti-Semitic writings on the walls. Fearing he may have left Massachusetts, state police contacted the FBI, sparking a nationwide manhunt. Before long, flyers depicting Robida were distributed all over Massachusetts.

In the afternoon of February 4, 2006, Robida's vehicle was seen about 1500 miles away in Arkansas, where Jim Sell, a Gassville police officer, initiated a traffic stop. After talking with Sell for about half a minute, Robida opened fire with a 9mm handgun, killing the officer. Police pursued him and laid spike strips, but this failed to stop the car. Robida fled for about 18 miles, stopped in Norfork, Arkansas and exchanged gunfire with police. During the gunfight, he shot Bailey, 33, of Charleston, West Virginia at point blank range, killing her. The authorities believe Robida had picked her up earlier in the week at her home in West Virginia, for some unknown reason. It has been reported that Robida lived with her in West Virginia in 2004. After Bailey's death, Robida shot himself in the head. He was flown more than 100 miles to Springfield, Missouri for medical treatment, where he died of his injuries not long afterward.

On February 7, Insane Clown Posse released a statement on the Robida attacks. The group's manager Alex Abbiss extended members Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler's condolences and prayers to the families of the victims, stating "It's quite obvious that this guy had no clue what being a Juggalo is all about. If anyone knows anything at all about ICP, then you know that they have never, ever been down or will be down with any racist or bigotry bullshit."

Syko Sam

In September, 2009, self proclaimed Juggalo and amateur horrorcore rapper Richard McCroskey, who went by the stage name Syko Sam, murdered Presbyterian pastor Mark Neiderbrock; his estranged 53-year-old wife Debra Kelley; their 16-year-old daughter Emma Neiderbrock and her 18-year-old friend Melanie Wells by bludgeoning them to death while they slept, in what has since been dubbed the Farmville murders.

Richard McCroskey had been a graphic designer and amateur horrorcore rapper and had been living with his father and 21-year-old sister in Castro Valley, California. McCroskey and his sister had been raised in Hayward before moving to Castro Valley. His father, a rock guitarist, introduced him to Insane Clown Posse, Metallica and Primus.

In high school, McCroskey had been teased and bullied because of his weight and red hair. Neighbors described him as a loner. His sister Sarah recalled him as a mild-mannered and kind person who never fought back or defended himself unless provoked. McCroskey's MySpace page featured songs he authored with violent lyrics, dealing with subjects including mutilation, death and the thrill of murder.

McCroskey dropped out of Tennyson High School in Hayward, then attended Hayward High School for a time before dropping out again. About five months prior to the murders, McCroskey had been devastated when his father asked their mother to move out. He was excited for a planned trip to Virginia to see girlfriend Emma Neiderbrock, whom he had dated online for almost a year and spoken with almost daily by phone. He flew to Virginia on September 6.

McCroskey was apprehended at Richmond International Airport on September 18, where police found him sleeping in the baggage claim area, about to fly back to California. McCroskey, who had no prior criminal record, was first charged with first degree murder, robbery and grand larceny (stealing the car), but later was charged with six counts of capital murder. McCroskey was subsequently held in Piedmont Regional jail, on suicide watch.

Police concluded the victims died from blunt force trauma to the head. Police occult expert Don Rimer, brought in because of symbols found in the music the teens listened, described the murder scene as a slaughter house.

McCroskey did not initially cooperate with police after his arrest. When asked about the possible motive, Police Sgt. Andy Ellington from Farmville, VA Ellington said McCroskey said "Jesus told me to do it."

The police took McCroskey's computer, house phones and more than a dozen paper bags full of evidence from his home. McCroskey was charged with six counts of capital murder because he is alleged to have killed multiple people within three years.

On September 20, 2010, McCroskey pleaded guilty to the four murders. Although facing the death penalty, he was sentenced to life in prison. County Attorney James Ennis says that the victims' families supported his decision to reach a plea agreement instead of going to trial and seeking the death penalty.

References

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