I got on my computer and Googled “Brödraskapet gang Northern California.”
There were multiple websites on prison gangs. One listed the “Top Ten Badass Prison Gangs in California.” The Brödraskapet gang was on the list. The website detailed their main focus. Murder, Kidnapping, Extortion, Arms Trafficking. A usual list of fun activities for violent dirtballs. But there was no mention of the gang leader, whether at the international level or the Tahoe level.
I skimmed through some of the websites. Several had links to gun websites where they proclaimed that sales of any weapon were available “no background check and no questions asked.”
But if Jon Cooper’s kidnapping was connected to the disappearance of Yardley LaMotte, it seemed my case might be about computers or software.
Could the Brödraskapet gang be that sophisticated? Could this entire thing involving Yardley LaMotte be about computer crime? Because Yardley’s business was computer-focused, it made sense as a possibility.
The glitch in my comprehension was still that this all required organization and maybe even smarts on the part of the criminals. And what I’d seen and heard of the men who made Vince take them up the mountain revealed a certain discipline but no identifiable smarts. Then I remembered that, during my art forgery case, there was a gang leader who was very bright, never mind the men who did the gang’s dirty work. It could be the same with this case, a smart leader manipulating gang members into doing his bidding. But that didn’t give me any more useful information. And it didn’t seem that there was an official website for the gang.
I drank a beer to clear my head, pacing back and forth across my tiny cabin. Spot looked puzzled at my motion for a bit, then went back to sleep.
Maybe the gang wasn’t using the word Brödraskapet. I searched on the English version, The Brotherhood.
Presto. Just to check, I searched the page for Brödraskapet. The Swedish word was down at the bottom in a sentence that said, ‘We salute our Swedish Spirit Brothers, the Brödraskapet.’
I went back to the top of the page.
There was a big banner across the top.
THE BROTHERHOOD PRINCIPLES.
Superimposed on the words was the silhouette of a military rifle.
The principles were listed down the left side of the page. There were just four.
1 - Resist Authority: The one-world government is coming. They have already taken your freedom. Next, they will take your guns.
2 - Ready Your Weapons: You will need many, and you will need lots of ammo.
3 - Stockpile Food and Water: Visit survivalist websites for details.
4 - Identify Your Brothers: They are the only ones you can trust when the government soldiers come for you.
The principles were followed by several paragraphs about the evils of government. The focus was partly on survivalist preparations for the coming apocalypse and partly on how criminal activity was the moral obligation of Spirit Brothers.
The website wording said,
‘Breaking laws is the only way to undermine the corrupt plutocracy that controls the country.’
I had to read farther to find comments that reminded me of what a plutocracy was: government by the wealthy who, according to the website, controlled everything: business, banking, schools, courts, and government.
I clicked on some links to other pages that ranted in some detail about these subjects.
There was one page that was different.
At the top was the word Marketplace.
It was vaguely like the wantads for jobs in a newspaper. The fine print said listings were free to post, but would be edited to avoid inflaming the socialist stooges who work for the government. Under that, it said respondents’ replies would also be edited. It further explained that with all exchanges, neither party’s email addresses would be revealed to each other or anyone else, and that all emails go through a Tor network and are untraceable. Correspondents would need to assess their mutual suitability and work out their projects and pay agreements among each other.
There was also a paragraph of qualifiers and disclaimers. The Brotherhood Marketplace assumed no responsibility for anything relative to agreements struck using the website.
The Brotherhood Marketplace said all payments would be made in bitcoin. Employers would pay the Brotherhood Marketplace, and the Brotherhood Marketplace would in turn forward bitcoin payments to vendors, minus a small fee equal to 2% of each transaction.
I scanned some of the ads.
Wanted: Bodyguard. Imposing size and clean-cut style matters more than experience.
Wanted: Safecracker. Business opportunity to make easy money. Huge potential. Must know bank vaults.
Wanted: Hacker, expert in breaking encryption techniques.
Wanted: Enforcer/persuader. Prefer biker look. Must have own weapons manufactured before World War II. No Tactical Tupperware. Weapons that can’t be traced preferred.
Wanted: Clean-up specialist who can render a crime scene spotless.
Wanted: Single-engine, float-plane pilot.
Wanted: Military weapons expert. Need to acquire rocket launcher and grenade launcher and all related equipment and ordnance.
Wanted: Actor/impersonator. Must play convincing investment banker with hedge fund experience.
Wanted: Abduction expert. Must have experience. Pay is commission percentage of revenue.
Wanted: Avalanche explosives expert. Focus is small dynamite charges hard to trace. No Plastic.
It was apparent that someone could design and plan a wide range of illegal projects and find people to do the job, all while remaining unknown.
Like the people behind the abduction of Vince’s kid. Or the disappearance of Yardley LaMotte.
What a wonderful world of possibilities for those with no ethical compass.