American Notes Terrorism

Both men were managers for Brink's Inc., the armored car service, and both, authorities believe, were members of a secret, neo-Nazi organization called the Brotherhood of Silence. Last week Charles Ostrout, 51, and Ronald Allen King, 45, were arrested by FBI agents in California and charged with conspiring to rob Brink's main storage vault in San Francisco. Ostrout was also charged with the sensational $3.6 million heist last July of a Brink's truck in Northern California. The arrests culminated an investigation that included the arrest in late November of Gary Lee Yarborough, allegedly a Brotherhood leader and a suspect in the murder of Alan Berg, a Denver radio talk show personality.

According to authorities, the Brotherhood of Silence preaches the violent overthrow of the Government and has links to other white-supremacist organizations. In addition to the two men arrested last week, five others are in jail awaiting trial and one was killed in a shootout with police, prompting U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello to say that the Brotherhood "seems to have been successfully neutered at this time." Yet two others are believed to be at large, and only a fraction of the money stolen has been recovered.