Lords of Chaos

by Michael Moynihan

How many fires will it take?

  Before you realize your god is dead...45

  In light of the band’s underground popularity, it may not come as a surprise that some fans of the group have begun vandalizing churches. Singer and lyricist Thomas Thorn is obviously untroubled by such behavior. In a recent interview where he was asked about the church burnings in Norway, he stated:

  I’m all for it. It’s certainly no coincidence that we had a picture of a burning church on the first album. A lot of people will say, “That’s a horrible thing to say! There’s a history behind the architecture, if nothing else.” Nobody said that when they were blowing up the Nazi eagles on the top of the Reichstag at the end of World War II. The missionaries who came and took away the Nordic gods and Scandinavian culture weren’t all nice guys who said, “Just come over to Jesus.” A lot of these people were doing it at sword point and saying, “Renounce your gods and attend this church—which we’re going to build on the holy place where we knocked down your temple.” There is a new generation reclaiming its ethnic spirituality. Part of reclaiming that is the recognition of centuries of oppression. For them, it’s a revolutionary act, it’s not an act of vandalism. It’s a statement. The church is the legacy of the people that stole their heritage. By all means—burn, baby, burn!46

  CALEB FAIRLEY

  Asked whether he would advocate Norway-style church burnings in America, he replied:

  I wouldn’t condemn them, I’ll say that. I’m not going to jail because somebody says I told them to go out and burn a church. Somebody called me up and said, “You’re not going to believe this but two little kids were taken into custody in Jacksonville, Florida for spray-painting a church and they cited a band called The Electric Hellfire Club and a song called “Book of Lies” that says, ‘There’s a church across the street / Let’s spray paint the walls.’” I’ll say that brought a smile to my face and I certainly had pleasant dreams that night. There’s some people whose station in life is to do something stupid and rot in prison for it. Quite honestly, I’d rather have them burn down a church than kill their girlfriend. If people are bound to fuck up and be incarcerated for a stretch of time, they might as well do something worthwhile. Why not burn down a church rather than shoot a convenience store clerk? That’s my message to the youth of today.47

  Not all of the band’s fans are content to concern themselves with mere vandalism. The most disturbing crime connected to The Electric Hellfire Club concerns the case of Caleb Fairley, a teenager from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, with a history of minor sexual misconduct. Fairley was employed at Your Kidz and Mine, a children’s clothing store owned by his parents. On September 10, 1995, he was the only one at the store, except for a woman and her young daughter who arrived to shop just before closing time. Fairley proceeded to lock the customers into the store, murder them, and allegedly violated their corpses before dumping them somewhere outside. He then immediately headed off to his scheduled entertainment for the evening—a concert of The Electric Hellfire Club. At the venue, Fairley approached Shane Lassen, the band’s keyboardist, and demanded plaintively, “Can you help me?” Lassen was slightly bewildered, and asked Fairley to explain. “I need help in establishing a more personal relationship with Satan,” he elaborated, and told Lassen how he had tried utilizing books like the Necronomicon and the Satanic Bible to no avail. Lassen would realize the fan’s attempts to please the Prince of Darkness had entailed much more than reciting spells when he read of Fairley’s pre-concert activities in the subsequent newspaper headlines. Fairley was charged with two counts of murder, robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, and “abuse of a corpse.”

  Far more dramatic than any of the above scenarios is another story with roots in Florida. In the spring of 1996, a series of crimes began to take place in the city of Fort Myers. On April 13th, a group of male teenagers commenced a campaign of mayhem and terror with startling similarities in spirit to the Norse eruption in 1992–93. Calling themselves the “Lords of Chaos,” the cabal of six began their crusade by burning down a supermarket construction trailer. They followed this with the arson of a Baptist church. The terror spree escalated in perversity when the youths spread gasoline around a tropical aviary cage adjacent to a theme restaurant, then ignited the thatched-roof structure and watched the blaze exterminate the entire collection of exotic birds.

  Things were just getting underway for the self-styled militia. The next attack was on a deserted former Coca-Cola bottling plant, where they arranged explosive propane tanks inside before retreating and tossing a molotov cocktail into the building. The structure was nearly obliterated while they observed the ensuing detonations from across the street. Only six days passed before they moved into action again, carrying out a masked armed robbery and carjacking in front of another restaurant.

  The finale came on April 30th, which the astute reader will also recognize as the Satanic holiday of Walpurgisnacht. At 11 P.M. that night, the marching band director of their high school, Mark Schwebes, caught the boys on school grounds and confiscated the cans of peaches they were preparing to lob through the school windows. Halting them from an apparent act of surrealist vandalism, Schwebes ordered the boys to go home and warned them they would receive a visit from the school’s deputy the next day.

  A few hours later that night, Mark Schwebes answered a knock at the front door of his home. Seconds after he had pulled open the door, a 12-gauge shotgun was blasted into his face. Three days later after the execution of Schwebes, police arrested key members of the group. At the time of the arrest they were headed out to rob a restaurant at gunpoint where two of the boys worked. The police stated they planned to kidnap the restaurant’s manager and shoot anyone who tried to interfere.

  THOMAS TORRONE BOTTOM

  CHRIS BURNETT,

  CHRISTOPHER BLACK

  After jailing those involved in the Lords of Chaos, investigators discovered more about the group. It consisted of Derek Shields, Peter Magnotti, Christopher Black, Christopher Burnett, and Thomas Torrone. The leader of the self-styled militia was Kevin Foster, an 18-year-old whom the others allegedly referred to as “God.” They each had reserves of weapons in their cars and houses. For the murder of Schwebes, Derek Shields had been the one to knock on the door—he was a member of the Riverdale school band and therefore could make sure it was his teacher who answered. As soon as Schwebes had opened his door, Shields gave Foster a signal to pull the trigger of the shotgun. Foster then allegedly unloaded a second shot into Schwebes’s buttocks because it was believed he was a homosexual. When Schwebes had caught them on the school grounds earlier that evening, it turned out they were in fact preparing to burn down the building (the canned peaches remain a mystery). Shields recently pleaded guilty to murder and will testify against two co-defendants in exchange for a life sentence without parole. In doing so he avoids the death penalty which his former associates are certain to receive.

  Had they not been interrupted by the authorities, the “Lords” had more ambitious plans. They already decided upon their “ultimate crime of chaos,” a sinister strategy for their upcoming graduation night party at Walt Disney World.48 Once inside the park they would steal life-sized cartoon character costumes. Thus disguised, they would stroll around the theme park, randomly murdering black tourists with silencer-equipped handguns. Ft. Myers Sheriff John McDougall stated he doesn’t believe the plan would have gone smoothly due to the strict security at Disney World, but that the Lords of Chaos would have reacted violently if anyone attempted to stop them. “They were going to make a strong statement at Disney. It would have been a bloodbath,” he said.49 Sociologists might secretly hope the unexpected brutality of the Lords of Chaos could be traced to poverty or lack of edu-cation, but such explanations were futile. One of the boys charged in the murder of Schwebes was even a straight A student, recently awarded with a full college scholarship, and another had scored 158 on an IQ test.

  KEVIN FOSTER,“GOD”

  LARRY KING, FORT
MYERS SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

  WERE THERE JUST THE SIX PEOPLE INVOLVED?

  There really wasn’t any more than that. They were very much at their beginning stages. You had Kevin Foster, who was basically the ringleader, and he had access to weapons and things of that nature through his stepfather’s pawn shop. He was familiar with weapons and their use. A lot of weapons were recovered later. You can’t typify them as a gang; you couldn’t typify them as a “militia group” or anything like that. They had certain characteristics from those types of things which all combined into the Lords of Chaos. That’s why they called themselves that—they were intent on creating chaos for a period of time. When we captured them at the Hardee’s restaurant they were in the process of conducting an armed robbery in order to get funds to go to Disney World. Once they got there they were going to shoot African-Americans and things like that, supposedly after getting into character costumes. They were going to go out and wreak havoc in the park itself.

  LEFT: PETER MAGNOTTI

  RIGHT: DEREK SHIELDS

  DID THEY CONFESS TO THIS?

  It was information that was revealed out of evidence we gathered. At this point everyone either pleaded guilty or plea-bargained, with the exception of Foster. They’ve basically all agreed to testify against him. Magnotti and Shields were the last two to make plea agreements.

  DID MORE PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE GROUP KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON?

  There were a couple of others on the fringe, that weren’t on the inside as far as knowing what was going on. There were dabblers that the group was looking at recruiting, so to speak. But it was very close-knit.

  We did receive some tips from other juveniles, so they had been talking or bragging about it to some degree. Once we were aware of the situation, we were able to act on it. We basically diverted all our manpower into it. We had them under surveillance, and that was how we were able to make the arrests as they were on the way to pull off the robbery at Hardee’s.

  HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THEIR BACKGROUND?

  Magnotti and Shields and the rest were bright students; in fact I’ve heard some typify them as more of the nerd type, because they were intelligent. Shields had a band scholarship.

  THEY WEREN’T RUN-OF-THE-MILL DELINQUENTS?

  Certainly not in that sense, but they did gravitate towards one person—Kevin Foster.

  HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HIM?

  He’s certainly more of a cold and calculating individual, one that could be described as having a “dark side” to him. He’s got the attraction to weapons and how to make bombs—that’s what kind of took control. He was certainly cold and calculating in the murder of Schwebes; the witnesses have said it was something he didn’t bat an eye about.

  DO YOU KNOW WHERE THEY GOT THEIR NAME FROM?

  They had made a pact, so to speak, and written what their primary goals and objectives were, what they called a “declaration of war.” It was found in an envelope addressed to the county’s traffic violations bureau.

  IS IT TRUE THEY CALLED FOSTER “GOD”?

  PETER MAGNOTTI’S ARTWORK: “BRILLIANT”

  —FORT MYERS NEWS-PRESS

  It seems so. They were a close-knit group of individuals, as I mentioned—a second family so to speak. That’s what Foster was developing. He had a cult-like control over the other individuals. Part of it is intimidation. So it had that cult aspect. Whether this was just kids dabbling or they were really serious about that is still up in the air. I wouldn’t call Foster a particularly charismatic person, but to this group of individuals he apparently was. To the average person probably not.

  ARE THERE ANY OTHER STORIES REGARDING THE CASE THAT WEREN’T IN THE INITIAL MEDIA REPORTS?

  Not that I’m aware of, but we’re still limited in what we can say because there’s the pending trial of Foster.

  WAS THERE ANY UNIQUE SYMBOLISM THEY WERE USING?

  They had their logo and drawings and things that could have called more attention to them. There were a bunch of things that would lend to thinking of them as a little bit different.

  AND THEY EXHIBITED A DEGREE OF RACISM?

  I think it was pretty clear what their intent was when they went to Disney World. It might have more to do with the area and their upbringing might have had some impact on that. It’s more of a rural background.

  The Lords of Chaos did not display any signs of overt Satanism, although they clearly held no respect for Christianity. They drafted a statement of purpose which is written in a similarly grandiose and antagonistic manner to many of the pronouncements from Varg Vikernes, Fenriz, and others in the Norwegian Black Metal scene. They share a similarly apocalyptic frame of mind, and they even use the same terminology as Vikernes when they glory in the idea of “laying waste” to the world. And like the Black Circle of Norway, they felt compelled to take credit for their actions and taunt the public with threats of worse atrocities to come. This is the text of their manifesto which was recovered by the police during the arrests:

  DECLARATION OF WAR:

  FORMAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LORDS OF CHAOS

  This is not a confession. This is a claim to criminal acts committed against society by the militant, anarchist group LORDS OF CHAOS (L.O.C.). During the night of April 12, L.O.C. began its campaign against the world. A few juvenile acts of theft and vandalism began in the night, which in a span of a few hours escalated to massive proportions. [It all began] in downtown Fort Myers with the theft from and subsequent destruction of various county-owned vehicles (we shall not dwell on lesser acts such as broken windows, the torched cross...). After innumerable smaller acts of random violence, the L.O.C.’s night of terror took a turn in a new direction—ARSON. After gleefully torching The Hut, the L.O.C. successfully determined the response time of the fire department (which was all but disappointing). In contrast to media reports, the construction site, not the church, was destroyed next. The L.O.C. would like to convey the infinite amount of joy they received from watching the aforementioned inferno. Finally the L.O.C. descended upon the church. Using nothing but an ordinary cigarette lighter, your friendly neighborhood arsonists torched trailer and bus. Though very excited and giddy, the L.O.C. decided to call it a night, being very tired and dirty from a hard night’s work. In conclusion, the L.O.C. would like to deliver a message to officials and employees of the city—WE ARE NOT PLAYING ANYMORE! The activities of April 12 were random and spur of the moment, but the L.O.C. is scheming future “Terror Nights” and are planning greater endeavors. Lee County is dealing with a formidable foe, with high caliber intelligence, balls of titanium alloy, and a wicked destructive streak. Their ranks are growing, and they are developing a well organized militia. Anyone doubting the sheer power and connections of the L.O.C. should rest well that their day SHALL come and that the L.O.C. is a force to be reckoned with. Lee County has not felt pain the likes of what is to come. Be prepared for destruction of biblical proportions, for this is the coming of a NEW GOD, whose fiery hand shall lay waste to the populace.

  THE GAMES HAVE JUST BEGUN, AND TERROR SHALL ENSUE...

  Signed, the LORDS OF CHAOS50

  The manifesto was not the only example of the kind of mindset operating behind the Lords of Chaos. After making arrests, authorities sifted through the members’ notebooks and computer files, only to find numerous stories and auto-biographical statements. Peter Magnotti wrote about himself, “I am a sociopath-paranoid-pyromaniac. Another quality of mine is that I can draw good and I can make friends easily.”51 Indeed, he had recently been voted by his fellow senior class students as the best artist at Riverdale High School. An article from the local paper described Magnotti’s artwork: “His drawings, often brilliant and highly detailed, are in the comic book style, full of mind control, suicide, death, and diabolical plots. He loved explosives.”52

  Both Magnotti and Kevin Foster wrote morbid stories of destruction for their own amusement. Foster’s tales feature him and his friends as central characters. They are full of typographical and gram
matical mistakes, written in a terse, violent style. One story paints the Lords of Chaos as local heroes:

  pete and kevin were vigilanties taking out bad guy’s ... cop’s were great full to them, wrong doers feared them and noone knew them. pete was known only as death. kevin was known as saint nic, because just like santa he knew if you were bad or good. if bad you DIE. the two man team made the streets safe to walk, made most of the populus white and took care of most of society problems [sic].53

  In one of Magnotti’s stories called “How I Killed the Earth,” his words sound like an eerie prophecy of the consequences of the later crimes they would commit. The protagonist in the tale laments: “I don’t know who I am anymore. I stumbled in a daze toward the light and found myself here. There’s blood on my hands and on my head.”54

  Assessing the trail of mayhem left by the Lords of Chaos, Sheriff John McDougall said, “It was like a vortex of bloodlust and arson. It was consuming them. They couldn’t get enough.”55 Identical observations would be fitting for the actions of the Norwegian and Swedish Black Circles. A Christian commentator, Tom Ascoll, writes of the Florida savagery: “Thank God that the Lords of Chaos stand out because they are exceptions and not the norm. But do not be deceived about why this is so. It is not because of poverty, lack of education, or any other social ill. Their actions are the consistent outworking of sin—rebellion against God.”56