CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – A Chillicothe native with ties to terror was recently added to the Canadian terrorist watch list.
James Mason, a self-proclaimed Neo-Nazi leader was recently added to the list by the Canadian government. Mason has been involved with the far-right white supremacy movement since the late 1960s, officials said.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Mason first joined George Lincoln Rockwell’s American Nazi Party as a young teenager. During his early years, Mason was mentored by Dr. William Pierce, the infamous author of the “Turner Diaries.”
Mason was a member until 1976 when he left the American Nazi Party to join the National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF). He joined with another infamous white supremacy leader named David Duke around the same time. According to reports, the group’s mission was to “overthrow the current government system, and establish a Neo-Nazi government.”
In 1973 James Mason was convicted in a Chillicothe court for an assault on a 14-year-old African-American girl. According to reports at the time, Mason, and an accomplice pulled alongside a group of teens at the Dairy Queen on North High Street when a passenger of Mason’s pulled out a can of mace, spraying the unsuspecting teens. One teen was taken to the hospital after being sprayed in the face during the attack. Court records show Mason tried multiple times to appeal that conviction but ended up serving 6 months in the Cincinnati Workhouse.
During the 1980s Mason, along with members of the “Manson Family” started an organization called the “Universal Order” in Chillicothe. Mason was in direct contact with convicted cult leader Charles Manson who was serving a life sentence for the infamous Hollywood/Tate Murders, files show.
According to police reports, raids were executed on Mason’s residence in 1988 and 1991. Ross County Sheriff Deputies seized pornographic photos of a 15-year-old girl. In 1992, he also pleaded guilty to two counts of illegal use of a minor in pornographic material.
During this time, Mason created a publication called, “Siege.” The publication was taken out of print in 1986 but was later turned into a book by Neo-Nazi musician Michael Moynihan in 1993.
According to terror watch groups, “Siege” was a favored book by Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVey who reportedly used aspects of the book while planning the horrific bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995.
The book became a cult favorite for white supremacists across America over the last two decades. Following the Charlottesville riot in 2017, the hashtag #READSEIGE became a rallying cry for other extremists who viewed the publication as a cookbook for violent terror attacks.
Mason moved from Chillicothe in the mid-1990s to Denver, Colorado where he continues teaching violence and extremist ideologies, officials said.
James Mason has been reportedly an advisor for the Attomwafen white nationalist terror group in Washington State. According to federal officials, the Attomwafen group is highly organized, and heavily armed. The group, federal agents say, have been linked to dozens of terror plots across the Northwest and Texas. Members of the American group were arrested in Canada for attacking journalists, and plotting to kill police.
Mason has been labeled “one of the most dangerous Neo-Nazi extremists” in the United States, according to federal agents.