Auf Wiedersehen! Florida Neo-Nazi Leader Jon Minadeo Moves to Arkansas

Florida's neo-Nazi population just dropped by one: Jon Minadeo II has left the Sunshine State for good. The founder of the anti-Semitic hate group Goyim Defense League (GDL) has packed up his Third Reich paraphernalia and Adolf Hitler memorabilia and decamped, bound for Arkansas after two years in Port St. Lucie.

"I'm just coming out and just going to start my own fucking lawn-mowing business and, you know, just do lawns for pro-white people," Minadeo announced on a November 23 livestream.

He'll also be teaming up with fellow neo-Nazi Billy Roper, creator of the white supremacist group the Shield Wall Network who aspires to "build a white ethno state," according to the Anti-Defamation League.

"I get to work with a legend when I get out there, Billy Roper," Minadeo said. "I look forward to meeting Roper, helping out as much as I can. This is the guy who worked under the legend Dr. William Pierce. This guy is a great guy putting together a pro-white thing over there."

After creating the GDL and its attendant network of white-supremacist provocateurs out of his San Francisco Bay Area home base, Minadeo gained infamy for his anti-Semitic antics, which included hanging Nazi signs on highway overpasses and driving around in a swastika-covered van as part of his "Name the Nose" tours. His group is also responsible for distributing flyers filled with conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tropes around the U.S.

Minadeo's ultimate goal is to expel Jews from the United States, culminating in a global war against the ethno-religious group. Along the way, he has amassed a substantial following through his livestreams on GoyimTV, an online platform where Minadeo solicits donations and spreads anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic rhetoric — including to young kids in chat rooms.

In announcing his relocation to the subtropics from Petaluma, California, in late 2022, Minadeo proclaimed that Florida would be more welcoming to his brand of hate-filled anti-Semitism. Upon his arrival, Minadeo, who comes from a Mexican-American family, deployed his neo-Nazi demonstrations, staging light projections on buildings throughout the state and harassing worshipers outside synagogues.

He soon realized the Sunshine State is not the Nazi paradise he'd envisioned.

In March 2023, Palm Beach County police cited him for littering after he left flyers on lawns throughout the area. He was later sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Two months later, the Florida Legislature passed H.B. 269, making it a crime to distribute any material onto private property to intimidate or threaten the owner, to threaten or intimidate a person based on their ethnic or religious attire, and to project images on a building without permission.

Outside of Florida, Minadeo was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and causing a public disturbance in June 2023 after he led an anti-Semitic demonstration prior to shabbat services at a Georgia synagogue.

Since arriving in Arkansas last week, he says, he has been "loving the demographics."