On Tuesday, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York filed federal charges against Brian Maiorana, 54, of Staten Island, New York for allegedly making violent and threatening interstate communications. Federal agents arrested Maiorana the same day.
Maiorana, a Trump supporter, posted violent threats online over the summer. In the aftermath of the November 3 election and the November 7 declaration of Joe Biden as the winner, his postings became even more explicit and menacing.
According to federal prosecutors, on November 5 Maiorana warned on social media that “the carnage needs to come in the form of extermination of anyone that claims to be democrat… as well as their family members.”
As demonstrators were celebrating Biden’s victory over the weekend, Maiorana, according to the prosecutors, went online and implored “all right thinking people” to “hit the streets while these scumbags are celebrating and start blowing them away.”
On November 8, the day after Biden passed the 270-electoral vote threshold, Maiorana posted explicitly anti-Semitic threats aimed at Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, as well as at the FBI. “The Turner Diaries must come to life,” he allegedly wrote, referencing the fascistic text that influenced the Oklahoma City bombers. “We blow up the FBI building for real.”
He added, “As the Jew senator from Jew York said, nothing is off the table.” Another post read: “Soap Box, Ballot box... that was fraudulently stolen from us. Now Cartridge Box.”
The affidavit alleges that Maiorana sought to acquire weapons, parts and explosive materials to launch terrorist attacks against protesters and politicians, although no specific plots or co-conspirators are named. According to the affidavit, Maiorana began making threats online in September, although he allegedly began seeking to acquire weapon parts as early as June.
If convicted, Maiorana faces up to five years in prison. He is currently being held without bail in New York after being arrested without incident at his Staten Island home by agents with the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Maiorana had a previous conviction for statutory sexual assault in 2007, which barred him from possessing a firearm.
Speaking to the New York Times, a member of the JTTF, which is composed of federal agents and New York police, claimed to have seized a semiautomatic pistol, parts of another pistol, a taser, a crossbow and an expandable baton. The task force also allegedly seized a book titled The Anti-Government Movement Guidebook, along with a skull mask, popular among law enforcement officers and fascists, as well as documentation about acquiring a second passport.
Maiorana’s landlord told the New York Daily News that her tenant worked at Amazon and kept to himself.
At the arraignment Tuesday night, Assistant US Attorney Artie McConnell stated: “The results of the search warrant this morning revealed that this was not simply idle chatter. The defendant appears to have taken steps to acquire weapons that would make it possible for him to carry out what he stated in these violent messages.”
The affidavit does not specify the social media platforms on which Maiorana was active. As of this writing, his sparse Facebook profile is still active.
A forum post on MyMilitia.com confirms that he had a profile on the site under the moniker “Proud Patriot Sailor.” On Tuesday, Twitter suspended the username @patriotsailor2.
MyMilitia.com is the same website the 14 Michigan militia members joined while planning to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the run-up to the election. Like the Michigan coup plotters, Maiorana used the online forum to attempt to meet up with like-minded individuals and militia members.
In an interview with Vice News, Josh Ellis, the owner of the site, claimed that it had over 20,000 registered members, roughly half of whom have signed up since April.
In a June, 2020 post on the website, Maiorana expressed his desire “to start manufacturing implements of war.”