The Murder of Talk Radio Host Alan Berg


On this day in 1984, liberal radio talk show host Alan Berg was gunned down in the driveway of his Denver, CO home. Nearly a year later, neo-Nazi leader Bruce Pierce was arrested in Georgia. His group, The Order, had been linked to several armored car robberies in the western half of the United States. Two of his accomplices, David Lane and Richard Scutari, were arrested shortly after Pierce's capture, while a third accomplice, Robert Matthews, had died in a shootout with FBI agents in December 1984. Pierce, Lane, and Scutari were charged with violating Berg's civil rights and a jury found Pierce responsible for Berg's death and Lane for driving the getaway car. Scutari was acquitted.

It's believed that Alan Berg was targeted by the Order, not only because he was Jewish but because he also openly challenged White Supremacist beliefs on his radio show. His murder inspired the movies Betrayed and Talk Radio.

Related Reading:

Alan Berg: Talked to Death

Murdered by the Airwaves: The Death of Radio Host Alan Berg

This brash Jewish radio host was murdered by white supremacists for denouncing anti-Semitism

Stream of the Day: Oliver Stone’s ‘Talk Radio’ Shows Impotent Rage Has Always Demanded an Outlet


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