On April 19, 2021, police in Chandler, Arizona, arrested the leader of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM), Burt Colucci of Kissimmee, Florida, for aggravated assault after he allegedly pointed a handgun at a Black man during an argument. Colucci, who has led the NSM since March 2019, was in Arizona after participating in the NSM’s annual event, which coincides each year with Adolf Hitler’s birthday week.
Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups often stage events around the anniversary of Hitler’s birthday, April 20. Many of these events celebrate Hitler’s legacy of antisemitism and his vision of “Aryan supremacy.”
