Joseph Charles Tommasi (April 15, 1951 – August 15, 1975) was an American Neo-Nazi who founded the National Socialist Liberation Front. He advocated extremism and armed guerrilla warfare against the U.S. government and what he called its "Jewish power structure."[1] Tommasi wanted anarchy and lawlessness so that the "system" could be attacked without protection.[2] Tommasi was derisively nicknamed "Tomato Joe" by rival neo-Nazis because of his Italian heritage and "less than Nordic complexion." He was later expelled from the group for using drugs and misusing group funds.[3]
Tommasi was shot and killed during a fight with a fellow Neo-Nazi in 1975.[4]
In February 1972, Irv Rubin, a Jewish militant of the Jewish Defense League, was arrested after firing at Tommasi.[6] However, he was never charged.[7]
The NSWPP had splintered following the 1967 murder of George Lincoln Rockwell, and Tommasi frequently found himself at odds with Rockwell's successor, Matthias Koehl. Koehl, a strait-laced follower of Adolf Hitler, objected to Tommasi's radical viewpoints, as well as his personal habits, which included smoking marijuana, wearing long hair, listening to rock and roll and inviting a girlfriend for sex at NSWPP headquarters.[2] These led to Tommasi being ejected from the NSWPP in 1973.[5]
In March 1974, Tommasi launched the NSLF as a separate organization.[5] The group attracted many of the younger and more radical members of the NSWPP. It used propaganda such as pictures showing the twisted wreckage of a Bank of Americabranch.[2]
Tommasi sought membership among white college students who felt alienated by both the radical leftist movement as well as the mainstream conservative right.[5] However, Tommasi had not given up trying to regain control of the NSWPP.[8]
Death
On August 15, 1975, Tommasi was shot in the head and killed in front of the headquarters of the NSWPP in El Monte, California. Numerous weapons were found at the headquarters, including a gun that had been recently fired.[9] David Rust, who was with Tommasi at the time, stated that someone had directed an obscene gesture towards them.[10] Witnesses said Tommasi had walked into the front yard carrying a club and got into an argument.[11] One NSWPP member allegedly warned him that if he came any closer, he would be shot.[10] Jerry Keith Jones, an 18-year-old NSWPP member, was arrested for the murder.[12] Jones later pleaded guilty to second degree murder for killing Tommasi and was sentenced to 300 days in the county jail and placed on probation for five years. Another Neo-Nazi, Clyde Frank Bingham, was initially charged two count of assault with a deadly weapon. However, the charges were later dropped.[13][4]
Tommasi's life inspired fellow Neo-Nazi James Mason to revive the NSLF in the early 1980s as a leaderless "philosophical concept or a state of mind" called Universal Order and to resurrect Tommasi's "Siege" periodical.[2][1][14][15]
