JURY DELIBERATIONS BEGIN IN WHITE WOLVES + 1 TRIAL

So the jury has the White Wolves + 1 case, and soon we will learn the fate of the two white supremacists and their black friend (we still can’t get over that one – nor the fact that he’s also a convicted sex offender – which is how we got his picture finally). Ken Zrallack, Alexander DeFelice of the White Wolves, and David Sutton or the what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-me corner of the world all face some significant time for trying to steal and sell weapons to a white supremacist group. Two others have already pled out, which honestly doesn’t bode well for these three. Hopefully we will know sometime today the verdict, and their fates will be sealed. If they do end up in prison, wouldn’t you want to be a fly on the wall when their soon-to-be fellow inmates find out why David Sutton is there?

Valley Independent Sentinel

Blame the informant. And the other guy.

That’s what defense attorneys for three men accused of taking part in a white supremacist gun sale conspiracy said during closing statements at U.S. District Court in Bridgeport Monday morning.

The closing arguments came after two weeks of testimony in the trial for Kenneth Zrallack, an Ansonia resident, David Sutton and Alexander DeFelice.

Federal agents claim the men allegedly conspired to sell guns and hand grenades to an out-of-state white supremacist group, whose contact turned out to be an FBI informant.

Zrallack, 29, is the alleged leader of the local white supremacist group, the Connecticut White Wolves, which eventually became Battalion 14. He is charged with conspiracy to sell and transfer firearms to a convicted felon. Federal prosecutors paint him as a silent controller of the entire weapons sale scheme.

DeFelice, 33, of Milford, is accused of being the foot soldier — dealing guns and weapons with FBI informant Joseph Anastasio, who pretended to be a high ranking member of the Imperial Klans of America. He faces more charges — including sale or transfer of a firearm to a convicted felon, making firearms and aiding and abetting.

Sutton, 46 of Milford, is the black friend of DeFelice, who prosecutors claim helped the white man secure parts and tools to build hand grenades. Sutton, like Zrallack, is charged only with conspiracy.

The Informant

Each attorney tried to distance their client from the alleged conspiracy. And they raised questions about Anastasio’s credibility and motive for talking to federal agents about the alleged gun sales.

Zrallack’s attorney, Nicholas Adamucci, and DeFelice’s attorney, Michael Hillis, claimed Anastasio worked with the feds in order to negotiate a lighter jail sentence for his son, who faced 40 years in prison for unrelated drug and larceny charges. The son ultimately was sentenced to only four years in prison, with an option for parole.

“He knew back then that they way to avoid jail time is to help out,” Adamucci said.

Sutton’s attorney, Frank Riccio, added that Anastasio was looking to get publicity for a manuscript he wrote about his days as a police informant.

Hillis also accused the FBI of entrapment, saying that Anastasio tried to lead DeFelice to gun and weapons sales.

“Alex (DeFelice) didn’t do anything until he was pressured by Joe Anastasio,” Hillis said.

Kopel, the U.S. attorney, countered by saying the government has evidence of Zrallack and DeFelice being involved in the White Wolves before they met Anastasio.

And, Kopel said, the shorter jail sentence was negotiated three months before the alleged conspiracy began in 2009.

Zrallack: ‘The Leader’

Government attorneys paint Zrallack as the leader of the white supremacist group, who was taking a cut of money from weapons sales.

But Zrallack’s attorney, Nicholas Adamucci, says Zrallack was an unfortunate outsider, who got caught up in the conspiracy simply because he knew, and was owed money by DeFelice.

“My client has nothing to do with those guns, and Mr. DeFelice,” Adamucci said during his closing remarks.

Adamucci said that tape recordings of Zrallack’s conversations with informant Anastasio reveal he only knew about bullet-proof vest sales.

Adamucci called the government’s case “desperate fodder,” and said Anastasio was trying to drag Zrallack into the conspiracy in order to give the FBI a better case.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Kopel said Zrallack was trying to put his “smaller Connecticut group on the map” through the alleged gun sales.

Kopel said Zrallack saw guns in the back of Anastasio’s trunk when the informant was allegedly handing off money to Zrallack at a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot.

“He said, ‘That’s cool,’” Kopel said. “He took the money. He was in.”

Adamucci called the cash exchange an “indication of how much (Anastasio) needs this case to succeed.”

“He puts the money on top of the guns,” Adamucci said. “How cheesy is that?”

DeFelice: ‘We Own the Pricing’

During closing statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kopel played several video and audio recordings of Anastasio’s dealings with DeFelice. In several his face is clearly visible in the videos.

In the recordings, DeFelice talks about getting guns and weapons to Anastasio, and talks at length about making active grenades out of empty grenade shells provided by Anastasio.

The grenades could “take out a fucking car, a fucking house,” DeFelice says in one recording. “There’s nothing to these that’s fucking legal, so guess what . . . We own the pricing.”

But DeFelice’s attorney, Hillis, said DeFelice is nothing but a man with a big mouth, who didn’t follow through on most of his promises for guns and weapons.

“Is there a shred of evidence that this guy’s a gun dealer, other than hitting his friends up for old rifles?” Hillis said.

Hillis said that DeFelice’s downfall was getting caught up with Zrallack — whom he described as a “dumb kid” who tried to bring DeFelice into a trap.

4 Yeps, 2 Uhuhs and a Burp

Perhaps the most out of place in the courtroom is defendant David Sutton — a black man wedged between two alleged white supremacists at the defense table.

The federal attorneys say Sutton helped DeFelice make hand grenades by providing tools to him one December 2009 afternoon.

Kopel played parts of the video of their conversation again Monday, where Sutton offers to lend DeFelice a “tapper.”

In the video, DeFelice mentions that he is making hand grenades. Anastasio laughs and Sutton replies “I know what he’s all about.”

Sutton’s attorney, Frank Riccio, portrayed his client as a ‘yes man,’ who appears in the alleged conspiracy for a single day, and only as a friend trying to lend another friend a tool.

Riccio said Sutton had no idea about what the tool would be used for — or that it had any connection with white supremacists.

“His color prevents him from knowing what this conspiracy is about,” Riccio said. “Mr. Sutton doesn’t know these parts will help make weapons for a race war.”

Riccio said Sutton’s presence on video recordings amounts to “four yeps, two uhuhs and a burp.”

Riccio said if Sutton appeared to be agreeing with DeFelice’s talk about building hand grenades, it was only because Sutton knows DeFelice is a “bull shitter.”

Choice

While the details about defendants’ affiliations with white supremacist groups can not be used against them, U.S. prosecutors said it showed motive for the gun and weapon sales.

Kopel said the case was brought against the men because of their conduct — not their beliefs.

“Consider the choices each one had,” Kopel said. “They were all on notice that these guns had something to do with the KKK,” Kopel said.

In Kopel’s closing arguments, he paraphrased Martin Luther King:

“The law cannot stop a man from hating me,” Kopel said. “But it can stop a man from lynching me. Or from selling the bombs or guns for killing me.”

The jury was given instructions for their deliberations Monday afternoon.