| John Patsalos | |||||||||
| Birth Date: | 6 January 1938 | ||||||||
| Birth Place: | New York City, New York, U.S. | ||||||||
| Conviction: | First degree murder | ||||||||
| Penalty: | 20 years imprisonment | ||||||||
| Criminal Status: | Released | ||||||||
| Fatalities: | George Lincoln Rockwell, 49 | ||||||||
| Locations: | Arlington County | ||||||||
| Country: | United States | ||||||||
| Weapon: | Mauser C96 | ||||||||
| Motive: | Revenge | ||||||||
| Other Names: | John Patler (formerly) | ||||||||
| Party: | American Nazi Party (formerly) | ||||||||
| States: | Virginia | ||||||||
| Module: |
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John Patsalos ( Γιάννης Πάτσαλος, born January 6, 1938), formerly known as John Patler, is an American former Nazi who was convicted of the August 25, 1967, murder of American Nazi Party (ANP) leader George Lincoln Rockwell.
Patsalos was born in New York City to Greek parents.[1] When John was five, his mother took him and his younger brother, George, and moved to his grandmother's house. Shortly after that his father shot and killed his mother. John's father was convicted of manslaughter and sent to Sing Sing Prison. He was released on parole in 1953. After John's grandmother died, he and his brother were sent to the Bronx to live with their father. Both brothers spent two weeks at the Youth House while their father faced child abuse charges, but were later released back into his custody.
Patsalos served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1958 to 1960, when he was honorably discharged on grounds of "unsuitability" after being arrested at an American Nazi Party rally.[2] He joined the American Nazi Party in 1960 and changed his surname to "Patler" to make it sound more like "Hitler".
On May 24, 1961, Patler, Rockwell, and eight others were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace in New Orleans after trying to picket the movie Exodus. They went on a hunger strike in jail. Rockwell was only able to raise enough bond money for himself so he could be released five days later. In June 1961, all ten men were found guilty. Patler was sentenced to 45 days in jail and fined $150.[3] Once more, Rockwell paid his bond, but left his followers in jail. In 1962, the convictions were overturned on appeal. Several years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Louisiana's statute on "breach of the peace" was unconstitutional. Ironically, the ruling mainly benefited black civil rights activists. In 1963, Patler was arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct for picketing an integration rally in New Jersey. He spent 10 days in jail.[4] [5]
Patler became a captain in the American Nazi Party and editor and cartoonist for the party's magazine, Stormtrooper. Patler drew racist and segregationist cartoons. However, he was expelled from the Party in March 1967 for "Bolshevik leanings" after disagreeing with party leader George Lincoln Rockwell about some of the party's policies,[6] as well as due to his "unstable character"[7] and for "spreading dissent between light- and dark-skinned Nazis" within the party.[8]
Patler described his relationship with Rockwell in endearing terms, stating "I loved him like a father and he loved me like a son".[9] In his last letter to Rockwell, Patler wrote: "I don't think there are two people on earth who think and feel the same as we do. ... You are a very important part of my life. I need you as much as you need me. Without you there is no future".
On Friday afternoon August 25, 1967, Patler shot and killed Rockwell while Rockwell was seated in his car, parked in front of a laundromat at an Arlington, Virginia, shopping center.[10] Rockwell was shot with a 7.63 mm broomhandle Mauser pistol. Patler was arrested half an hour later, about a mile (1.5 km) from the scene of the shooting.[11] Despite maintaining his innocence,[12] he was convicted of first degree murder on December 16, 1967. The prosecutor requested a death sentence due to the premeditated nature of the slaying, but the jury recommended the most lenient sentence possible, 20 years. Patler was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Arlington Circuit Court Judge Charles Russell.
Patler was free on bail while appealing his murder conviction. In 1969, he won a $15,000 libel ruling against an American Nazi Party official who had told the FBI Patler had stolen the gun used to kill Rockwell. After losing his appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia for murdering Rockwell, he was sent to prison in 1970. In June 1972, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously turned down an appeal.[13]
Patler was paroled in August 1975, having served less than eight years of his sentence. In 1976, he was charged with trespassing and possession of marijuana;[14] his trespassing charge was later dismissed.[15] [16] After violating his parole, he received an additional six-year sentence.[17] [18]
In 1970, Patsalos was reported as using his old name again, and as contributing to a Spanish language newspaper called El Pueblo, with him condemning racism in an editorial. He also described his former racism as being due to his thoughts "that [he] was inferior" and that he was "dark and ugly".[19] [20] [21] Hank Burchard commented he was "olive-skinned and beautiful". In a 1970 article, Patsalos said, "I think [members of the [[National Socialist White People's Party]] are] always watching me ... so I never go any place without looking behind me", along with claiming "I think one of them may be the guy who really killed Rockwell".[22]
In the early 1970s, Patsalos attended art classes at Radford College under a study-release program, although in 1975 a temporary ban was imposed on enrollment of prisoners and parolees, after college officials learned who he was, along with also claiming they did not have knowledge of the program.[23] [24] [25] The ACLU disputed the ban, although did not dispute the college's subsequent refusal to give Patsalos a dorm.[26] [27]
In 1978, media outlets reported Patsalos was attempting to get a name change back to his original name.[28]
In a 2012 book, Nicholas, the son of Patsalos, recalled his father expressing regret for his time in the American Nazi Party, with him saying "I should have been with Dr. King and the Civil Rights people back then. They were truly my people, not those Nazis."[29] In 2017, The Washington Post described Patsalos as a "staunch online defender of Donald Trump". Patsalos praised the marchers at the Unite the Right rally. He refused multiple interview requests from the newspaper.[30]
United States