FBI agents recently warned community leaders in the Detroit area about a possible racist plot by a convicted felon and alleged neo-Nazi sympathizer who was arrested after he was discovered with an arsenal of assault rifles  and other weapons, a law enforcement official tells NBC News.

“The FBI averted a catastrophe in this case, there’s no doubt about it,” Steven M. Dettelbach, the U.S. attorney in Cleveland, said in an interview.  

New details about the case of Richard Schmidt, the owner of a sporting goods store in Bowling Green, Ohio,  dramatically highlight what law enforcement officials say are major loopholes in the nation’s gun laws. Schmidt, 47, is a convicted felon who spent 13 years in Ohio state prison for a homicide after being convicted of killing a man and wounding two others in a shooting during a traffic stop, according to state prison records.  Under federal law, Schmidt, who was released on parole in 2003, is barred from possessing any firearms.

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Yet when FBI agents last December searched his home and store, they discovered a cache of 18 weapons that included AR-15 assault rifles, 9 mm Ruger and Sig Sauer pistols, shotguns, high-capacity magazines and more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition. Schmidt was originally reported to have been arrested on charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods, but was indicted last month on four federal charges —including possessing illegal weapons, body armor and ammunition. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“As a matter of policy, I don’t comment on pending cases,” his lawyer,  Andy Hart, a federal public defender in Toledo, said when reached by telephone.

Dettelbach, who is overseeing the case,  said that federal agents have been unable to determine how and where Schmidt obtained  his weapons, prompting officials to conclude he likely acquired them at gun shows or through private sales --  where under federal law no background checks are required. . 

“It’s scary,” he said about Schmidt’s arsenal of weapons. “It’s not … that I won’t say” where Schmidt got his guns. “It’s that sitting here today as a senior federal law enforcement official in northern Ohio, I can’t say.” 

The investigation into Schmidt was conducted by a  FBI Joint terrorism Task Force whose agents said they discovered he was tracking African American and Jewish leaders in the Detroit area.  When agents conducted their search, they said they found  evidence suggesting Schmidt harbored neo-Nazi sympathies, including a video of the 2005 national meeting of the National Socialist Movement — in which speakers  wore  black swastika  arm bands and gave the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute. “This is a war! This is a battle for our survival!” one speaker shouts on a video of the meeting obtained by NBC News.  Other seized items, according to federal search warrants, included a  list of national Jewish-owned businesses and paraphernalia from the “Waffen SS,” Adolph  Hitler’s military force in Germany.

'Very unsettling, very disturbing'
Two community leaders briefed on the case tell NBC News that agents also found a notebook in which Schmidt had listed the names, addresses and other personal information of Detroit area community leaders. Although Schmidt was already in custody, and remains in jail pending trial, the evidence in the notebook prompted agents to warn the leaders about what they had found.

Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP, said that FBI agents showed him a page of one of Schmidt’s notebooks which included information about members of Anthony’s  family as well as distances between his home, office and his church. They also told him they were concerned about “a possible threat against the NAACP and me in particular,” he said.

“It was mind blowing,” Anthony said. “Very unsettling, very disturbing, and it really kind of made me angry.”  When he was told about Schmidt’s weapons, Anthony said, “I made the comment that this guy is a one man army and they said, ‘Yes, looks like it.’” 

 The FBI gave a similar briefing to Scott Kaufman, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of  Metropolitan Detroit. He said agents also showed him a page of Schmidt’s notebook showing his name and the names of others in leadership positions in his organization, as well as the names of tenants in his building and driving directions to his office.

“When I saw my name on a piece of paper along with information about our organization and our building written by an alleged neo-Nazi, it was certainly unnerving,” he said.

Anthony and Kaufman said the FBI asked them not to share copies of the notebook pages with NBC News because Schmidt’s case is ongoing. They also said agents had no specific evidence of what Schmidt might have been planning  –  or whether he was working with anybody else.  An FBI spokeswoman declined comment.

Read previous story:

Feds investigate how suspected white supremacist -- a felon -- obtained arsenal

Federal law does not require such checks for private sales or gun show purchases. Seventeen states have mandated them for handgun purchases at gun shows, though Ohio is not among them. Only six states require background checks for all firearms purchases.  

A new study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research has found that 80 percent of those convicted of gun crimes acquire their weapons through private sales – making it virtually impossible for federal agents to trace where they come from or who is providing them. 

“There’s no documentation required for private transactions. So whatever occurs in that zone is invisible to us,” Charles Houser, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, W.Va., said in an interview.

Related coverage: 'Flashpoint: Guns in America,' an NBC News special report

Dettelbach echoed those concerns. “Our current set of laws for how guns get out the community has a lot of holes,”  he said. “It’s almost like Swiss cheese.” 

(Federal prosecutors recently filed court papers showing that reputed Boston mob figure  James “Whitey” Bulger was able to buy at least 15 handguns and a shotgun while he was on the run as one of the FBI’s "Most Wanted" fugitives. Officials believe he acquired them at gun shows or from private sellers. 

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Leaders of the Republican Committee of Luzerne County, Pa., are trying to figure out whether they can oust a reputed white supremacist who was elected to the committee with one vote – his own.

Steven Smith, co-founder of a racist group called the Keystone State Skinheads, was elected to one of two committee seats for his district, Pittston City's Ward 4, during Pennsylvania’s April 24 primary election.

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Pennsylvania election law allows any registered Republican or Democrat to write in their name to become a member of the County Committee. Smith was elected with only one write-in vote, which he has since acknowledged was his own, said Terry Casey, chairman of the Luzerne County Republican Party.

“We unequivocally denounce Mr. Smith and his abhorrent views and would like to make it clear that in no way do his personal views reflect the views of the Republican Party,” the Luzerne County Republican Committee said in a statement issued this week.

The county GOP’s executive committee will meet to discuss what action, if any, it can take in response to Smith’s election, Casey told the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. No action is likely until after the next county convention is held to elect a new chairman, which won’t be until late June at the earliest, Casey told msnbc.com.

“I’m not sure what procedure will be introduced,” he said.

“I have heard many people stating they’re very, very unhappy with this situation and are looking to remedy it. I would be surprised if there isn’t such a thing proposed.”

The GOP committee’s current bylaws don’t include a provision that would allow a member to be expelled for his beliefs.

Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com

Smith told the Times Leader he intends to serve out his four-year term and will resist any effort to remove him. "I’m community-minded and wanted to get my foot in the door,” he said, explaining why he sought the political post.

News of Smith’s election victory went viral after he posted an announcement titled “I won election to the Republican Party’s County Committee,” along with a picture of his certificate of election, to an online forum called WhiteNewsNow.com.

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party spread word of Smith’s election by posting a link on its website to a Southern Poverty Law Center report on Smith’s white supremacist ties. Luzerne County GOP officials accused state Democrats of trying to "create a political football" out of the issue.

According to SPLC, the 41-year-old Smith is a longtime racist activist with a criminal record. Keystone State Skinheads, the group he co-founded, is now known as Keystone United.

SPLC says of Keystone United:

While its members attempt to project a mediagenic image of being part of a new breed of more sophisticated and less spasmodically violent skins, the truth is that the group’s members have been convicted of a string of remarkably violent attacks dating back to at least 1998, ranging from bar brawls to murder. Keystone United frequently sponsors white-power picnics and music festivals across Pennsylvania, including the annual "hatecore" event known as "Uprise."

In March 2003, Smith and two other members of the Keystone State Skinheads were arrested in Scranton, Pa., for allegedly beating a black man with stones and chunks of pavement. Smith pleaded guilty to terrorist threats and ethnic intimidation and received a 60-day sentence and probation, according to the SPLC.

Smith told WNEP-TV on Monday that he is no longer a member of the Keystone State Skinheads and denies being a racist. Asked why he left the group, Smith said, “Just because of the name 'skinhead.' People get a knee-jerk reaction from it and they think of movies like ‘American History X’ and think we are a bunch of violent thugs and people don’t listen to you as much, so that’s why I got away from that.”

Smith told the Times Leader he is currently the director of the local chapter of the European American Action Coalition, which describes itself as an advocacy group for white Americans.

He said he was surprised by the media attention his election is getting. "This is not a powerful position. I don’t know why everyone is getting their panties in a bunch,” Smith told the newspaper.

Msnbc.com could not immediately locate Smith by telephone for comment and the European American Action Coalition did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

As a GOP county committee member, Smith’s main responsibilities include making sure he has poll watchers at his voting precinct and organizing door-to-door campaign strategies, Casey said.

The county GOP chief said that as much as other committee members want to distance themselves from Smith, their hands are tied for now by committee bylaws.

“The feedback from my constituents has been very loud and clear: They do not want anyone who espouses these hateful viewpoints to be involved in the governance of our party,” Casey said.

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A white supremacist likely will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a federal judge sentenced him to 40 years in prison Tuesday for a 2004 bombing that wounded a black city official in suburban Phoenix.

Jurors in February convicted Dennis Mahon, 61, of three federal charges stemming from a package bomb that injured Don Logan — Scottsdale's diversity director at the time — and a secretary.

---

They stopped short of finding him guilty of a hate crime after a six-week trial that included dramatic testimony from Logan and a female government informant dubbed a "trailer park Mata Hari" by defense attorneys.

'Trailer park Mata Hari' case: White supremacist twins' bomb trial wraps up

In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge David Campbell said he believed the bombing was premeditated and done to promote an agenda of hate and racism.

He called it an "act of domestic terrorism."

Campbell defended the decision not to classify it as a hate crime. "The jury was never asked if this was a hate crime," he said, although they were asked to consider whether Logan was targeted because of his race, The Arizona Republic reported.

"Mr. Mahon acted to promote racial discord," Campbell said, according to the Republic.

Logan told the Republic after the sentencing that he believed Campbell's comments meant it was essentially a hate-crime conviction. "He didn't know me; all he hated was what I represented," Logan said.

Mahon, meanwhile, maintained his innocence, telling the crowded courtroom: "I didn't do this bombing."

He said he felt bad for the victims, "but I can't apologize for something I didn't do."

Mahon had faced between seven and 100 years in prison. Since there is no parole in the federal system, he likely will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

His identical twin brother, Daniel, also faced a charge in the case but was acquitted.

The package bomb detonated in Logan's hands on Feb. 26, 2004, in a Scottsdale city building.

Former stripper as informant
Prosecutors alleged the Mahon brothers bombed Logan on behalf of a group called the White Aryan Resistance, which they said encourages members to act as "lone wolves" and commit violence against non-whites and the government.

They showed surveillance tapes at trial of the brothers referring to Logan in racial slurs. They also played a voicemail that Dennis Mahon left at Scottsdale's diversity office just months before the bombing in which he angrily said: "The white Aryan resistance is growing in Scottsdale. There's a few white people who are standing up."

Defense attorneys said someone working for the city of Scottsdale was likely the perpetrator because Logan's job made him unpopular.

During Tuesday's hearing, Logan said he believes his skin color was the motivation for the attack. He told the judge that Dennis Mahon's actions warranted the maximum sentence.

"Don Logan didn't ask to be here. I am here by default. I am here for justice," Logan said. "Dennis Mahon does not deserve to be free."

During the trial, defense attorneys heavily criticized the use of 41-year-old Rebecca Williams as an informant, nicknaming her the "trailer park Mata Hari" — a reference to the Dutch exotic dancer who was convicted of working as a spy for Germany during World War I.

Investigators met the former stripper through her brother, an informant himself on the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, and recruited her for the Mahon case, directing her to act like a government separatist and racist. She wore revealing clothes and sent racy photos to the brothers to win their trust.

'They got walloped': Masked group attacks alleged white supremacists in Illinois restaurant

Williams met the brothers in January 2005 after investigators set her up in a government-provided trailer at a Catoosa, Okla., campground where the brothers were staying at the time. A Confederate flag was placed in her window, and prosecutors say the Mahons introduced themselves within minutes of her arrival.

Dennis Mahon opened up to Williams as their conversations were recorded, telling her how to make bombs after she told him a fictitious story that she wanted to harm a child molester she knew.

In one conversation, she asked Mahon if he had ever successfully detonated a bomb, to which he replied: "Yeah, diversity officer."

Logan testified at trial about the unbearable pain he felt after he opened the package, describing the lights going out, the room filling with smoke and debris falling from the ceiling.

Logan, who now works as a diversity administrator in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, was hospitalized for three days.

He needed four surgeries to remove shrapnel from his arm and hand, do a skin graft on his severely damaged forearm and restore some use to one of his fingers that nearly had to be amputated.

'Self-aggrandizing claims'?
Dennis Mahon's defense team has maintained his innocence, with his attorney Deborah Williams crying in court Tuesday and saying: "I don't believe Dennis Mahon has done this."

"He has not lived a good life in the way that most people would think of it," she said.

The defense attorneys argued their client "often makes exaggerated self-aggrandizing claims" that aren't true, that he was an alcoholic who constantly was drinking Everclear, and that his statements to Williams were just meant to impress her.

Mahon's lawyers also argued no evidence showed the bombing was done with the intent to seriously injure or kill Logan. They noted there were no deaths or life-threatening injuries from the bombing.

Prosecutors, who recommended a sentence of more than 60 years, said Dennis Mahon intended to send a political message in trying to kill Logan.

The Mahons were living in the Phoenix area at the time of the bombing but left days afterward and were arrested in 2009 in Illinois.

Dennis Mahon was found guilty of conspiracy to damage buildings and property by means of explosives; malicious damage of a building by means of explosives; and distribution of information related to explosives

Daniel Mahon was acquitted of conspiracy to damage buildings and property.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A group of masked radicals is accused of brutally attacking alleged white supremacists eating lunch at a restaurant in a suburb of Chicago, and the town’s mayor is calling the melee a bizarre and bloody spillover of the NATO Summit.

Tinley Park Mayor Edward J. Zabrocki said as many as 18 people wearing masks and black hoods stormed into the Ashford House in Tinley Park on Saturday, pummeling a group of alleged white supremacists who had gathered at the Irish-American eatery known for its corned beef and bacon.

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Zabrocki said he believed the group of assailants had come into town from Indiana to participate in the protests at the NATO Summit, but instead headed to his town to pick a fight. Tinley Park is about 30 miles southwest of Chicago.  

“This was a real riot,” Zabrocki told msnbc.com on Monday. “These guys started beating the crap out of the other group. A lot of tables were knocked over, dishes were broken and there was food all over the walls. It was terrible. It was a mess.”

Zabrocki said five members of the group were arrested; 13 others were still being sought.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Tinley Park Police Chief Steve Neubauer said five men were charged with aggravated battery, mob action and criminal damage to property. The group included three brothers, Jason W. Sutherlin, 33, of Gosport, Ind.; Cody Lee Edward Sutherlin, 23, of Bloomington, Ind.; and Dylan James Sutherlin, 20, also of of Bloomington. Alex R. Stuck, 22, of Bloomington, and James S. Tucker, 26, of Spencer, Ind., were also charged, the Tribune reported.

Nine people were injured and three people were hospitalized, Zabrocki said. He said victims' conditions had improved since the attacks.

The mayor said he believed the victims had ties to white supremacist groups, but he could not confirm their affiliation.

Zabrocki said the Anti-Racist Action, an organization that says it protests "fascist and neo-Nazi activities," claimed responsibility and posted its reasoning on its website. 

According to the Anti-Racist Action website:

“On Saturday, May 19th a group of 30 anti-fascists descended upon Ashford House restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park where the 5th annual White Nationalist Economic Summit and Illinois White Nationalist Meet-and-Greet was taking place. The White Nationalists were targeted inside the restaurant and physically attacked, causing several injuries and completely shutting down their meeting.”

Zabrocki said city and police officials had been on alert on Saturday and Sunday because of demonstrations at the NATO Summit in Chicago. He said quick action by police helped law enforcement collar at least five of the suspects.

“We believe that the same group of attackers had been in town for the summit and if they had not been in town, they wouldn't have found this group,” he said.

'Walloped'
Michael Winston, owner of the Ashford House, said the group that was attacked had made a reservation for up to 20, saying they were from an Irish heritage association.

"We had no idea who these people were," Winston said. "We don’t ask for people’s political stuff when they come in the door. Did they look like white supremacists? One or two did, but just because they have a shaved head doesn’t mean they’re a skinhead, right? I know a lot of good-looking guys who have their heads shaved and they aren’t skinheads or white supremacists. And the group that stormed in, it was too fast and too late. It took us by surprise.

“The other group marched into the restaurant, all were in hooded sweatshirts,” Winston told msnbc.com. “Each had a chair leg, baton or a bat. They came in and went straight to a table of white guys and whoever stood up or got in the way, they got walloped.”

He said business inside Ashford House has taken a blow from the weekend violence.

"It was a ghost town in here on Sunday,” Winston said. He said customers have been afraid to come in and others have canceled their reservations. He said a few loyal patrons have stopped by to see if everything was OK.

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The reputed leaders of a central Florida white supremacist group accused of planning for a “race war” say they are proud Americans who are being persecuted for their beliefs.

Marcus Faella, 39, and his wife, Patricia Faella, 36, told News 13 they had no intentions of being violent toward anyone.

Interviewed at their compound in St. Cloud in rural Osceola County, Fla., the Faellas acknowledged their ideas are different than others, the TV station reported Thursday.

---

"At this point, it looks like we are being persecuted for our politics," Patricia Faella told News 13. "I am really -- we are out here because something does make us uncomfortable, but we are not trying to bother anyone else. We are just trying to be left alone."

Marcus Faella said he and his wife are proud Americans, according to News 13.

The Faellas are among at least 11 people connected to the Florida branch of a skinhead group called the American Front arrested in the past week. They are accused of felony conspiracy and hate crimes, including taking part in paramilitary training on the Faellas’ compound in preparation for what Marcus Faella believed was “an inevitable race war,” according to court documents.

A government informant infiltrated the group during the two-year investigation and said members trained with AK-47s, shotguns and explosives at the Faellas' fortified barbed-wire compound. According to a court affidavit, American Front members discussed acts of violence that included causing "a disturbance” at City Hall in Orlando and attacking a rival skinhead group during a May Day rally.

Patricia Faella denied the group was planning a race war. "Some symbols mean something from one person to the next," she told News 13. "All we are asking you is to reserve judgment."

The Faellas were arrested Friday and released from the Osceola County Jail after posting $500,000 bond each.

Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com

The father of another defendant, Richard Stockdale, 23, of St. Cloud, said the charges against his son are “fabricated and trumped-up.”

“I know my son is a good kid, and his friends are nothing but prideful Americans,” Richard Stockdale Sr. told The Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday. “I can’t wait to hear what (authorities) have. It’s all been blown way out of proportion. It’s amazing that when you say hooray for the white man, you go to jail.”

Patty Kenny, the mother of defendant Christopher Brooks, 27, of St. Cloud, told FloridaToday.com her son was "a very good kid, respectable."

"I knew about the tattoos, I knew about him, but I didn’t know about the command post and the guns and the stuff they’re saying is happening," she said.

"As far as I knew these were just friends that he hung around with,” Kenny told FloridayToday.com. “I feel like if I was on the side of the road in the middle of the night I could call the friends up and they would come and help me out."

Earlier: Reputed white supremacists accused of planning race war

"They’re more survivalists than terrorists,” Brooks' father, Thomas Kenny, told FloridaToday.com. “They want to be able to live off the land. I don’t  see them wanting to terrorize people or starting wars."

Meanwhile, some American Front backers are trying to muster support online for those arrested.

A petition called “Free Richard 'Adam' Stockdale and the AF 11” was started by a person using the name Jbug Garrean. “The media is spinning this story to make it appear as if these people were plotting 'Terroristic Attacks,' when in all reality all these people are guilty of is being white,” the petition states.

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Members of a white supremacist skinhead group called American Front trained with AK-47s, shotguns and explosives at a fortified compound in central Florida to prepare for what its reputed leader believed to be an “inevitable race war,” prosecutors said Tuesday.

According to court documents, members of American Front discussed acts of violence that included causing “a disturbance” at City Hall in Orlando, shooting at a house and attacking an anti-racist skinhead group.

At least 10 members of the group, which authorities described as a militia-styled, anti-Semitic domestic terrorist organization, have been arrested in Florida since the weekend, including at least three people on Tuesday.

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The felony arrest charges include paramilitary training, attempting to shoot into an occupied dwelling, and evidence of prejudices while committing an offense. The last charge falls under Florida's hate-crimes law.

“This investigation is a result of our ongoing partnership with local law enforcement and federal agencies in a concentrated effort to stamp out hate crime in our community,” Ninth Circuit State Attorney Lawson Lamar said in a statement Tuesday.

His office said he would not comment further on the case because the investigation is ongoing.

According to a court statement from Agent Kelly Boaz, a sworn deputy for the Orange County sheriff’s office and investigator with the state attorney's office, that was filed in support of an arrest warrant, the group was led by Marcus Faella, 39, of St. Cloud, Fla. He and his wife, Patricia Faella, 36, were among those arrested over the weekend.

“Marcus Faella has been planning and preparing the AF for what he believes to be an inevitable race war. Faella has stated his intent during the race war to kill Jews, immigrants, and other minorities. Faella believes the race war will take place within the next few years based on current world events.”

Much of the information of the alleged plots came from an informant who infiltrated the group in mid-2010.

According to Boaz:

Faella viewed himself and fellow members of the American Front as “protectors of the white race.” He regularly conducted firearms, explosives and military/tactical training at his rural property in Saint Cloud and in the swamps of a Florida wildlife management area.

Faella’s remote property was surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by two pit bulls. It contained fortified entrenchments built from railroad timbers, cement piling and other materials.

Faella regularly held weapons training on his compound, where he also stored water, meals ready to eat and other survivalist-type supplies. During target practice he told participants to visualize the jugs of water they were shooting at as the heads of black people, which he referred to by the N-word.

Read local coverage from WESH

In July 2011, an American Front member from Missouri who was also in the National Guard visited the compound and conducted paramilitary training, including hand-to-hand combat techniques, that he learned from the Guard.

Last November, an American Front member, Jessy Brown, committed suicide with a 12-gauge shotgun on Faella’s property, the informant reported. The weapon belonged to Faella.

In January, a recruit beat up a former American Front member at a local bar for “comments made against the AF on Facebook.” No charges were filed in that case.

In February, Faella started planning to “cause a disturbance” at Orlando City Hall “so the media would report on it and bring new members to AF.” No attack was ever carried out.

Faella also wanted members to “hunt down” members of an anti-racism skinhead group called REDS and “put their teeth to the curb” – an apparent reference to violent acts portrayed in “American History X,” a 1998 movie about the roots of race hatred in America.

Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com

Law enforcement became increasingly concerned when the informant reported that Faella and his followers were plotting to attack REDS members during “May Day” protests on May 1 in Melbourne, Fla., and “shoot up” the house of a REDS official.

Fearing that his cover might be blown, the informant destroyed his cellphone after removing the memory card. He fled the area and contacted police.

The May Day confrontation apparently never took place.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Ala.-based hate watchdog, describes the American Front as a California-based group of skinheads with a propensity for violence. The group was founded in the late 1980s, faded from national headlines in the 1990s and then saw a major resurgence around 2007 under new leader David Lynch.

Lynch was killed by an unknown attacker in his Sacramento, Calif., home on March 2, 2011. In California, the group has shrunk significantly. “Now, most of its activities – and, apparently, most of its members – are in Florida,” the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Mark Potok wrote on the center’s Hatewatch blog.

In addition to the Faellas, others arrested in Florida include:

• Jennifer McGowan, 25, of Kissimmee
• Mark McGowan, 29, of Cocoa
• Diane Stevens 28, of Kissimmee
• Kent McLellan, 22, of St. Cloud
• Paul Jackson, 25, of St. Cloud
• Christopher Brooks, 27, of St. Cloud
• Richard Stockdale, 23, of St. Cloud
• Dustin Perry, 21, of Kissimmee

WESH contributed to this story.

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