White supremacist, talk show host killer dies in prison
Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News
Published May 30, 2007 at midnight
If it were not for Denver Klansman David Lane, KOA’s outrageous talk show host Alan Berg might have lived to a ripe old age.
But the white supremacist, who died in an Indiana prison Monday, was the connection between the acerbic Berg and the neo-Nazi gang that gunned him down in his Congress Park driveway, 23 years ago next month.
It is among Denver’s most notorious crimes.
Lane, 68, who had been serving sentences totaling 190 years in the U.S. Prison, Terre Haute, died of natural causes related to epilepsy, the coroner said. He was a founding member in fall 1983 of a white supremacist gang that the media called The Order, but which they themselves named Bruders Schweigen — the Silent Brotherhood.
When the gang assembled a hit list, Berg’s name landed on top because David Lane had a tape of one of his KOA talk shows, in which Berg ripped into a hero of the racist movement. He had lambasted white supremacists and had called Lane "sick" and "pathetic" in on-air conversations. The Order responded with a machine gun and 13 bullets to Berg’s head, chest and neck on June 18, 1984.
Lane was a prolific author on white supremacy. He had continued his writings from prison on anti-Semitism, Wotanism and anti-Americanism, according to various Web sources.
The Order’s ultimate goal was to overthrow the U.S. government, according to a Lane biography on wikipedia.com.
Twenty members of The Order were convicted in 1985 on conspiracy and racketeering charges and Lane appeared in court again in 1987 in connection with Berg’s death.
Lane died in the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution, according to a prison news release.
"He was a known epileptic and wasn’t taking his medication," said Dr. Roland Kohr, Vigo County coroner, who performed an autopsy. Lane had not refilled a prescription since January, Kohr said. Death occurred when Lane stopped breathing after a seizure, Kohr said.
Terre Haute Tribune-Star contributed.
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