As soon as I saw the Rep-Am report that the Rat Pack Motorcycle Club (RPMC) had staged a counter-protest at the rally to "protect" the statue of Christopher Columbus, alarm bells went off inside my head. Members of the RPMC doing their best to look tough and intimidating towards Black people holding a rally at City Hall is something Waterbury has seen before. The past is repeating itself, and not in a good way.
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| News coverage of the clashing groups outside City Hall, Rep-Am website, 2 July 2020. Photo by Jim Shannon. |
RPMC History
Waterbury's Rat Pack Motorcycle Club was started in 1964 by John Crafa, supposedly inspired by the Marlon Brando movie The Wild One. According to later court records, Crafa ran the club as a paramilitary organization, styling himself as a colonel, while the club's vice president, Robert Fernandez, was a lieutenant colonel. Other positions included a captain, first lieutenant, and two sergeants-at-arms. (John Crafa v. Robert A. Fernandez, Connecticut Superior Court, Judicial District of Waterbury, 6 March 2003, 2003 Ct. Sup. 2997)
The club built a positive reputation for itself in the white community by holding charity events, but their other activities were disturbingly similar to what the KKK was doing in the south. The RPMC was in fact described as "a kind of Ku Klux Klan in leather jackets." (David B. Bowes, "Pangs of 20th-Century Life," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12 June 1969)
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| Photo of the Rat Pack, The New York Times, 24 March 1969 |
During the mid to late 1960s, Waterbury's Black community joined the nationwide Civil Rights movement, standing up for their rights, addressing racial inequalities in the city, holding rallies and protests. The RPMC decided this was unacceptable and set themselves up as vigilantes, harassing and assaulting Black people, staging counter-protests to intimidate Civil Rights activists, violently enforcing what they deemed to be law and order against Black people.
The Rat Pack's leader, John Crafa, was quoted as saying that the situation in Waterbury was so bad, the police were considering deputizing members of the RPMC ("Policeman Takes the Fifth," Hartford Courant, 23 October 1968). The group was later described as "a second police force" ("Waterbury Tensed for Riot," Hartford Courant, 15 March 1969).
In a short period of time, the RPMC established itself as a champion of white supremacy, using violence and threats of violence in an effort to control the Black community. They were seen as heroes by white people who were opposed to desegregation and thought that the Black community was becoming too powerful.
The RPMC intimidated Blacks "into submissiveness. These white men operate out of an old diner on the edge of town, have guns, and ride around on their Harley Davidsons beating up Blacks, brandishing their weapons, and threatening law-abiding citizens who simply wish to present their grievances." ("A World Apart," Connecticut History on the Web)
The RPMC was actively opposed to desegregation of Waterbury schools, issuing a statement that "The demise of the neighborhood school system is only one more step away from the system which made our country great." (David B. Bowes, "Pangs of 20th-Century Life," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12 June 1969)
In May 1968, during heated public debate over the need to desegregate Waterbury's elementary schools, approximately 50 members of the RPMC attended a meeting of the Board of Education and were given a standing ovation by the white members of the audience (Jean Tucker, "Claims of Vigilante Group Heard by State Rights Board," Hartford Courant, 11 June 1968).
Coverage in the Naugatuck Daily News described the RPMC as "a motorcycle gang of swaggering toughs, some of whose members appeared at public hearings on school problems, not to testify but to intimidate." ("Segregation," Naugatuck Daily News, 11 July 1969)
In July 1967, the RPMC mounted a machine gun to their clubhouse as a show of force against the Black community. Reed Smith, a Civil Rights organizer in Waterbury, later testified that the machine gun remained on the building for some time. The club members later denied ever having a machine gun. ("Report Expected On Police Probe," Hartford Courant, 13 March 1969)
By 1968, Waterbury was "bursting at the seams with tension, fear, extremist groups and the potential for riot." The State of Connecticut stepped in to sort out what was happening. (David B. Bowes, "Pangs of 20th-Century Life," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12 June 1969)
CHRO Investigation
The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities investigated the RPMC and numerous other human rights complaints in Waterbury in 1968. More than one hundred Waterbury residents testified during the investigation. Melba Grant testified "that she saw a girl intentionally bumped by a member of the Rat Pack" ("Witnesses Link "Rats" to Police," Hartford Courant, 15 June 1968).
The Commission eventually concluded that the RPMC had interfered with the rights of others and was viewed by a "substantial number of black citizens as intimidators of those publicly challenging conditions in the city, with public officialdom and, in particular, the police department, looking the other way." (Edward P. Butler, Jr., "Human Rights Report Blasts Conditions In Waterbury," Naugatuck Daily News, 15 March 1969)
Although the report did not substantiate any direct ties between the police department and the RPMC, it did find that "The Rat Pack is likely frightening many people in the city without appreciable attention by the Waterbury Police Department." The report also concluded that "there is a considerable reason to believe that some members of the Waterbury Police Department have loyalties to extremist groups and that their personal philosophies are resulting in unequal treatment to Black persons, pacifists, and poor persons generally." (Edward P. Butler, Jr., "Human Rights Report Blasts Conditions In Waterbury," Naugatuck Daily News, 15 March 1969)
The CHRO report was long and encompassed a number of issues of inequality in Waterbury, including police, schools, housing conditions, and local leadership.
Included in the report was a recommendation for the various religious faiths in the city to continue working "as one of the calming agents for civil peace and justice through spiritual motives in human behavior" in response to their observations that "there are in Waterbury white people who hate black people, black people who hate white people, persons who are fearful, persons who lack compassion, empathy, and basic human understanding...." (Waterbury Public Hearings of the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, An Interim Report, 1969)
Comments from the public in response to the report included one elderly white man saying, "I don't see what all the fuss is about. This town is just the same as it always was." (John Darnton, "Waterbury, Connecticut Seen 'Ripe' For Negro-White Trouble In Spring," Daily Press, Newport News, 11 April 1969)
Malcolm Baldrige, president of Scovill Manufacturing, future U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and supporter of the Civil Rights movement, declared there was one thing wrong with the report: "It's at least 80 per cent true." (John Darnton, "Waterbury, Connecticut Seen 'Ripe' For Negro-White Trouble In Spring," Daily Press, Newport News, 11 April 1969)
John "Cricket" Crafa
Following the CHRO investigation, Crafa and Daniel Ferraro, the RPMC president and vice president, issued a carefully crafted statement:
"At no time did our club ever threaten anyone in any way or act in the capacity of a police force. We are not proponents of segregation, but we are opposed to extreme methods of desegregation that prove a detriment to the rest of the community." (David B. Bowes, "Pangs of 20th-Century Life," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12 June 1969)In an interview one month later, however, Crafa boasted about doing all of the things he denied in the previous statement. In his own words:
"After three of our members were arrested during the 1967 riots, a lot of us felt it was because of the Negroes and this gave us more interest in racial problems because a lot of the members felt that's what caused the three members to get arrested.
Another turning point was when the middle school and Walsh School incident started. Up until then it was back and forth with a few statements to the press. Then the Negroes had a sit-in down at City Hall, which we didn't go for [didn't approve of]. They were allowed to stay there three days, they made a mess out of the place, and this rubbed us the wrong way.
We received a call that there was to be a meeting, and they'd like to have representatives of the club attend because there was going to be a big thing over the middle school. This was about a week after the incident at Walsh School, where Negroes locked the Board of Education in. Now for a lot of people that was the last straw. In a lot of people's eyes, they succeeded in tying the police department's hands.
We went to the meeting with various people and we decided to go to the meeting at City Hall the next day, which is the day the fight took place. And ever since it's been what you could call hot and heavy.
After the Walsh school incident, people were fed up, they were scared, they were disgusted with blacks pushing the Board of Education around, ramming through proposals that weren't to the benefit of the whole community. With our interest in what was going on, and with our facilities, that's when we really got into civic affairs.
I think there's a definite need for somebody like us to say what a lot of people want to say but can't. We aren't afraid. To a lot of people we're heroes, to a lot of people we've become a problem because we state our opinions. In some circles we could be called reactionaries, but it was our opinion we were stating and we're still stating it."
(John White, "Rat Pack Motorcycle Club Presents A Jekyll-Hyde Look in Waterbury," The Bridgeport Post, 14 August 1969)
Federal Raid of RPMC Club
On August 2, 1969, federal and state authorities raided the RPMC clubhouse, confiscating half a dozen weapons and 1,200 rounds of ammunition. The weapons were all legally registered, leading Crafa to declare the incident "our greatest victory." ("Raid On Club Nets Guns, Ammunition," Naugatuck Daily News, 4 August 1969)
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the Treasury Department led the raid, expecting to find hand grenades, automatic weapons, and marijuana. A reporter for the Naugatuck Daily News, in their coverage of the incident, observed that the RPMC "seem to think they should 'keep the n---s in line.'" Club member "Tiny" Rinaldi was quoted in the article as referring to Deputy U.S. Marshal Walter McBride as "a token Negro," boasting that the club members refrained from heckling him during the raid. (James V. Healion, "A Visit To The Rat Pack: Almost Everybody Got The Point Except "Cricket" And His Boys," Naugatuck Daily News, 8 August 1969)
In 1971, the Waterbury Police Vice and Intelligence Division, working with the feds, raided the Grateful Dead Motorcycle Club on Long Hill Road and confiscated a sawed-off shotgun, rifles, knives, and ammunition. A sub-machine gun was reportedly at the club the night before the raid but was removed before the police arrived. Wayne King, past president of the GDMC and a former member of the RPMC was arrested and turned over to the U.S. Treasury authorities after Waterbury police found an Italian-made sub-machine in his possession. ("Local Man Arrested On Weapon Charge," Naugatuck Daily News, 26 February 1971)
RPMC Today
The club fizzled out during the mid-1970s. A reunion was held in 1999 or so, and nearly 600 people showed up, including 30 original members. Following the reunion, the club was started up again, with a limit of 150 members. The new club was run by Robert Fernandez, one of the original members. When asked about the history of the club by a reporter, the police department "had nothing but good things to say about the group." Their role as racist thugs during the 1960s was forgotten. (Frances Chamberlain, "Tough Exteriors, Hearts of Gold," The New York Times, 3 December 2000)
I like to think that people can learn from their mistakes and become better people. Sometimes, however, people don't change.
Five days ago, John Crafa was posting on Facebook about "the good old days," specifically 1967-8, and wrote that he wished his "whole crew was around now. We'd make sure Antifa and BLM were all good little boys and girls. If we could only be that age again." No sense of remorse for his actions as Waterbury's equivalent of the KKK, just nostalgia for the good old days when he was hated and feared.
At yesterday's rally against racism, members of the RPMC relived their role as racist vigilantes and oppressors of the Black community. They told the media that they were present to protect the Christopher Columbus statue, implying that they think the police are either unable or unwilling to prevent vandalism, and signaling that the RPMC have decided to once again serve as vigilantes enforcing law and order.
Based on their actions at the rally, it seems that the RPMC were trying to intimidate and control the Black community, just like they did in "the good old days." According to people who were present, the RPMC shouted the n-word at them, all lives matter, and so on. For the most part, they stood silently and "observed," but their purpose was clear to many. They were there to stand against the Black community, just as they did half a century ago.
Update (10/25/2020)
After posting this in July, some of the Rat Pack supporters, including Cricket Crafa himself, posting comments letting me know how very very wrong I am. Unfortunately, everything they wrote reinforced my opinion of the RPMC.
A white woman wrote that, when she was 14, instead of standing up for herself, she had the RPMC intimidate and possibly assault another teen girl. That's straight-up vigilantism for hire. What kind of men bully and beat up teenage girls? Or is it different because the teenage girl was Black?
Cricket's response to what I wrote makes it clear that he is a violent bigot with no respect for equality or justice, and no remorse for the pain he has caused others.
Some people seem to think it's okay for a group of men to "fill in" for the police, to enforce submissiveness and obedience from others, but this is something that is never a good thing. It's vigilante justice, which is no justice at all. It's might over right. It's thuggery and intimidation and oppression. It's fascism. You may think it's okay when they're on your side, but what happens if you do something they don't like? Vigilantes care only about their personal view of the world. The opinions and the rights of others mean nothing to them. Their bigotry destroys our society.
9 comments:
I was upset by the photograph on the front page the Republican American which I think purposely portrayed the Black woman protestor in an unflattering "angry" light while psting no pictures of the bikers. I am even more upset. This has always been a very racist city and it doesn't appear to have changed much in the 50 some years I'ge been gone. Great research job and this needs to be widely disseminated.
Oh, cool, literal racism from someone who is too cowardly to use their name, pretty much proving my point. So funny that a post criticizing racism gets an angry racist reply. Racism is real, it’s pervasive, and white people like myself have a responsibility to call it out when we see it.
Informative piece, but centralized on a 2-3 year period. All mostly true. But, RPMC never fizzled or disappeared, they grew up and became highly functional community members and business persons. Racism sucks and is very difficult to eradicate. I can tell you that several of these original members:
have interracial grandchildren (the BEST cure for prejudice)
have or have had minority partners, spouses, or lovers
AND surely have changed (for the better) with the times
I was raised in this turbulent, racial dividing time, in this city and still catch myself using unacceptable views i was indoctrinated in.
I caution a reminder to all of you.
Applying the past to today out of context is unfair.
It is literally apples and oranges.
Here is my Bias, Kenny Capaldo was one of the awesomest men I have ever met. Never did I once see him as racist. He was an original member, a leader, a life long friend to Waterbury- and always RPMC.
Jimmie Handrinos
Hyannis, Ma
You say they stood in front of the statue of C.C. because the police were unable or unwilling to protect the statue.It proved to be true i see.The rat pack were a neighborhood fixture and I never saw a problem w them.Many other biker clubs were fearful. They are now a bunch of older guys doing fundraiser type things.Good for them
Interesting story Mostly fiction but entertaining.The RPMC were never anti black.We were anti lawless rioters.We never went around beating anyone up.There never was a machine gun on any roof.Some of the quotes that supposedly came from me,did not.You also left out the part where a group of thugs went to a board of ed meeting forced them to pass rules against their will and hung the head of the board in effigy.The next morning I got a call from a board member saying there was a special meeting at city hall and could some of us be there.It was that Saturday I was sucker punched (he missed by 2 feet) and was restrained by 2 police officers.City Smith who threw the punch and I meet some years and laughed and joked over the incident.We had many black friends then and I do now to bad this story is riddled with false information and told from a bias liberal point of view.I suggest you do a like piece on BLM and ANTIFA with your talent for writing fiction you could turn their burning,looting and destruction into a glowing description of them.The riots in the 60's here in Waterbury were mostly confined to the North Square where businesses were looted and destroyed.Of course you being a stanch liberal condone those actions under the banner of protesting for civil rights.We didn't and still don't.I have nothing to be ashamed of for our actions 50 years ago.We helped stop criminal rioting and I'll always be proud of that.
Clearly, the person who wrote this article has no idea how it was during the segregation of the schools in Waterbury. You had to be there to really understand how violent it was during busing. The blacks didn't want to be bussed and the whites didn't want them in the schools. When I say violent there were fights with knives and bottles and students were afraid to go to school. It was 1970 and I went to Crosby High School downtown Waterbury. I was a 14-year-old petite white girl who just about weight 105 lbs. I was a freshman, only in school for a month and I didn't hate blacks then and I don't now. I only wanted to go to school and didn't really understand about the busing thing. I was walking downtown with my friends to get the bus at the Place Theater and a black girl and her friends started pushing me. By the time we got to the Palace, the black girl jumped me and beat the crap out of me. I never said anything to provoke this girl and I don't even know her name. Thank God for the man who owned the magazine shop next to the Place, he broke it up. My clothes were torn and my hair was falling out of my head. When I made it home my dad brought me to the doctors because I was traumatized. My mom brought me to school and talked to the principal, but he did nothing. Times were intense and there was a lot of pressure on him. But it didn't end. I was going to my Chemistry class and the black girl pushed me against the wall and threaten me not to make any trouble for her or she would beat me again. I wasn't her only victim, she beat up other white girls and nothing happened. My parents owned a laundromat and the president of the RPMC did his laundry there. My mom told him what happened to me and he said he would protect me. He would walk me to all my classes. The school let me down, but not the RPMC. This article has these men as black haters and part of the KKK. They are protectors for the victims that couldn't protect themselves. To this day I'm grateful to the RPMC because I had no hope. Every day I went to school scared wondering if I was going to get beat up. The RPMC never had to take me to my classes because the black girl got transfer out because she lied about where she lived. Racism goes both ways. The black girl hated me and targeted me because of the color of my skin. I'm just one victim who RPMC helped and protected. That's who they really are, not how they are portrayed in this article.
Through my work and at certain events over the years, I've been around them enough to see and hear a lot. At one fundraiser for a sick child, hanging down from a ceiling in the back of the pavillion, they had a bloody "lynch-style" image of President Obama. Someone forgot to take it down before the event, I assume. Someone eventually did. So, I'm quite certain of this, if your RPMC, at the very,very least, you tolerate the racism in other members.
Does anyone know if John Tiny Lentini was a member of this Club?
I know enough RPMC goons personally to know that what you're saying is absolutely true.
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