Christian Picciolini says he wasn’t raised a racist by his Italian immigrant parents who came to Chicago. He got into white supremacy in 1987 when he said he was a lost 14-year-old boy just hooking up with a rough crowd.
He learned to hate. He formed a band promoting white power. There was even a gig in Germany where Picciolini posed in front of a concentration camp.
The Blue Island man wound up on talk shows spewing hate as a self-described racist. On one show, he told Jerry Springer, "I stand for my own flag which is the banner of the white race."
He was covered in tattoos, using ink symbols and a code. One was "14 words." Nazis know what it means. Translated: "we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." Fourteen words.
Listening to Christian today, it’s hard to believe it’s the same guy. He eventually left the skinhead movement more than two decades ago.