Racist global underworld: Boise man allegedly fostered terrorism thousands of miles away
A Boise man arrested Friday has been accused of helping to lead an online network of would-be and committed white supremacist terrorists with members in countries around the globe.
From a residence in Boise, Matthew Allison, 37, is accused of fostering a loosely connected online haven for extremists seeking to incite a race war. His tactics included splicing adulatory videos about prior terror attacks and compiling detailed how-to guides that included the nuts and bolts of how to make bombs and chemical weapons, how to find a suitable target and how not to get caught, according to a Department of Justice indictment and news release.
In pursuit of ways to “accelerate” violent clashes around the globe to speed up the creation of a white ethnostate, the conspirators looked to radicalize new recruits and incentivize their violent ideations, calling attackers “saints” and promising to commemorate those who succeeded, authorities said.
One document that was in the works, called the “Saint Encyclopedia,” included mugshots of white supremacist killers and still photographs from a shooter’s 2019 livestream of a Christchurch, New Zealand, massacre, which killed 51 Muslims attending prayer services.
The network of communications channels, group chats and archives was built on the social media app Telegram and is known as “Terrorgram.” The activities on the platform and charges against Allison and alleged co-conspirator Dallas Humber, of Elk Grove, California, were detailed in a 37-page indictment released by the Justice Department on Monday.
The Telegram web was replete with instructional manuals for how to make bombs, videos valorizing past attacks motivated by racist ideologies, detailed instructions for targeting important infrastructure and words of encouragement for any would-be attackers.
Here are some of the international terrorist attacks that federal authorities linked to Allison and Humber, and documented in the indictment.
Slovakia
A 19-year-old Slovakian killed two people and injured a third in a shooting at an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava in October 2022. He then killed himself.
Before the attack, the shooter authored a manifesto and sent it to Allison, “thanking Terrorgram for inspiring and guiding him.” A section of “Recommended Reading” included one of the Terrorgram’s documents, which the shooter called a “practical” guide to carrying out their agenda. Humber later created an audiobook version of the manifesto.
Before his attack, the shooter had been in “frequent” conversation with Allison online, and was celebrated by him in reposts after the killings.
New Jersey
In July, an 18-year-old was arrested for allegedly plotting to attack an electrical substation in New Jersey. He had been an active member of Allison and Humber’s Telegram group chats, and had thanked other members for sending him “accelerationist propaganda” videos created or spread by Allison.
One of Allison’s videos had recommended a particular method to break an electrical transformer; the New Jersey attacker recommended that an accomplice — who turned out to be an undercover agent — use the same method.
Turkey
In mid-August, an 18-year-old from Turkey was arrested in the stabbing of five people outside a mosque in a city southeast of Istanbul. He wrote in his manifesto that he had used Terrorgram’s documents to plan his attack, and also shared the 2022 manifesto of the Slovakian attacker.
In a separate instance last December, Allison encouraged another user who had expressed his plans to commit a mass shooting, the indictment said.
“Wish you the best in everything homie,” Allison wrote to him.
Allison also allegedly helped manage a list of people targeted for assassinations, including an unnamed U.S. senator, a federal district judge and a former U.S. attorney. The list included officials’ names, photographs and home addresses.
Allison’s arrest came less than two weeks after authorities in France detained Telegram’s billionaire founder, Pavel Durov, on charges connected to the illicit networks that have been created on the app. The arrest came as part of a wide-ranging investigation into illegal activity on the platform, according to news reports.
