Meet Paul Gancarz, Patriot Front Network Director for Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, and Delaware. Paul attended Unite the Right in Charlottesville as a Proud Boy; was involved in scrawling swastika graffiti in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; and was a previous Network Director for New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Among other things…
*1/25/22 Update* – Gancarz’s BJJ gym membership has been terminated. This article originally indicated a gym Gancarz had used to register for competition, but was not his home gym. This has been corrected, and specific contact information has been removed out of respect for gym owners who have taken appropriate action
Summary
Paul Michael Gancarz is a fascist and Patriot Front’s Network Director for the region covering Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, and Delaware. He currently lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, but is originally from New York City where he has strong ties to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and Forest Hills, Queens. As a member of Patriot Front, Gancarz is very active in the group’s propaganda campaigns in both New York and Virginia where he is responsible for much of the Patriot Front stickers, posters, and stencils reported in these areas. In his role as a Patriot Front Network Director, Paul would have been directly involved or consulted on high-profile vandalism in his network, such as the defacement of the Arthur Ashe mural in Richmond, Virginia. As the host for Patriot Front marches in Washington DC on January 29th, 2021 and more recently on December 4th, 2021, he would have had a large role in the organizing and staging of these fascist spectacles (and any U-haul mishaps that may have occurred).
Paul Gancarz’s involvement in Far Right politics also goes well beyond Patriot Front. On August 12, 2017 he attended the deadly white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia as a Proud Boy and has maintained strong connections to the group over the years. In December 2019, Paul and Proud Boy member Simon Ming Yui Lee (AKA Simon “Lee Greenwood”) scrawled swastikas outside of a Greenpoint, Brooklyn restaurant. Gancarz also helps distribute a variety of fascist and far right propaganda, notably those for white nationalist Robert Rundo’s groups, Rise Above Movement (RAM) and Will2Rise (W2R). His work as an engineer provides him the opportunity to travel around the United States, network with different fascists, and spread fascist/white nationalist propaganda and ideas. He currently works for the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion Project in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk, Virginia area.
Summary: Twenty-year-old Michael Patrick Hagerty, II is a member of two racist organizations, Patriot Front and Revolt Through Tradition. This year, he placed stickers for those organizations throughout Atlanta. Hagerty even wears clothes designating himself as a “National Socialist” – in other words, a neo-Nazi. His uncle, Bill Hagerty, is a Trump loyalist campaigning as the Republican candidate in Tennessee’s US Senate race, which he will likely win. Bill Hagerty vilifies Black Lives Matter and anti-fascists. Meanwhile, his nephew works with white supremacists to build a climate of intimidation against people of color, Jewish people, Muslims, leftists and LGBTQ communities.
Introduction
Michael Hagerty, II
“Revocato_Gloria” AKA Michael Hagerty, II
Michael Patrick Hagerty, II is a twenty-year-old white nationalist who belongs to two different fascist organizations, Patriot Front (PF) and Revolt Through Tradition (RTT). Over the last year, he has covered Atlanta with stickers for these organizations, trying to give the impression that they have a strong presence in our city. Hagerty has also traveled to meet with other PF and RTT members and posed in photos as they trained together for fighting. Hagerty even wears a t-shirt identifying himself as a “National Socialist”: in other words, a neo-Nazi. One of Hagerty’s associates in Patriot Front is “John GA” (alias), who targeted synagogues in Columbus, Georgia, last year with another PF member, Chris Brooks.
William F. Hagerty campaign video
Hagerty’s uncle, William F. Hagerty, is currently campaigning in Tennessee as the Republican candidate in that state’s election for the US Senate, which he will likely win. As a candidate, Bill Hagerty has repeatedly attacked Black Lives Matter and anti-fascists. He characterized Black Lives Matter as aiming to “overthrow the government and usher in Marxism” and echoed Donald Trump’s characterization of anti-fascists as “domestic terrorists”, stating that they “must be stopped”. Through his aggressive public stance against anti-racist movements, Bill Hagerty shelters and emboldens white nationalists like his nephew while they prepare for violence.
Ryan Saxer is a neo-Nazi from St. Petersburg, Florida who operates under the name “Sean Battle”. He is a member of several fascist organizations. Before we discuss Ryan’s neo-Nazi organizing and affiliations, let’s detail how we found him.
Ryan has lots of different social media accounts. Some are for his public persona, Sean Battle, where he censors his face and tattoos, and one for his close friends where he posts pictures of his face. Sadly for Ryan, some of those close friends aren’t too happy with him going behind their backs, and decided to send those photos our way. We were able to verify that these photos were of the same individual by comparing them to posts on his Sean Battle account.
Same outfit:
Same outfit:
Same hoodie:
We were able to verify that the man pictured on the right is Ryan Saxer from this old Facebook profile that bears his name.
RTT & RAM :
Ryan is the leader of the Florida chapter of Revolt Through Tradition(RTT). RTT is a white nationalist organization started by Michael Moura after the dissolution of Boston Free Speech. RTT’s organizing is centralized on the east coast, but there have been a notable instances of their propaganda popping up further west. Presently, their activity revolves around putting up stickers and physical training.
The Florida RTT chapter
Revolt Through Tradition is modeled after, and is closely associated with, the Rise Above Movement (RAM). RAM is an extremely violent organization, whose members have committed numerous assaults. They were a major part of the Unite The Right protest in Charlottesville in 2017, and have been lionized in fascist circles. Ryan is also a member of RAM. He authored a communique for the group in January, and posts pictures of himself wearing their shirts.
A Rise Above Movement communique authored by Ryan
Ryan wearing a RAM shirt and posing with his Nazi friends (more coming soon…)
International Conservative Community:
RAM and RTT are both closely associated with the new group, International Conservative Community (ICC). ICC is a massive coalition of fascist and far-right groups across the world that was started by RAM’s founder, Robert Rundo. RAM and RTT’s logos both appear on this wheatpaste orchestrated by ICC.
Screenshot from an ICC propaganda video
Groups that have participated in ICC demos include: RAM, RTT, Pro Patria, RME Crew, Tradition and Order, Action Zealandia, De Fria Sverige and more. So far, the organization’s activities have been limited to doing international solidarity campaigns with arrested RAM members and fascist murderer Kyle Rittenhouse. ICC demonstrations have been documented in 7 US states and 12 countries. Ryan and the Florida RTT chapter posed with a RAM solidarity banner, and Ryan has advertised the group on his Sean Battle Instagram account.
A post written by Ryan about ICC
Currently, ICC’s activity is ostensibly benign. However, the formalization of white nationalist alliances across continents is incredibly concerning. We will continue to do work to document ICC in the future. We urge other antifascists investigating ICC to reach out to us with questions and information.
Patriot Front:
Ryan appears to be a member of the neo-Nazi group Patriot Front. Patriot Front is a rebrand of Vanguard America, the group responsible for the murder of Heather Heyer at the 2017 Unite the Right rally. Ryan can be seen sparring in propaganda posted by the organization this May. An uncensored photo from the same sparring session was sent to us by one of his former fiends.
Our Fight / Will2Rise:
Through his pseudonym Sean Battle, Ryan authored several posts on a blog belonging to the white-nationalist clothing company Our Fight. Our Fight sold merchandise for numerous fascist groups and bands from the US and Europe. The organization grew out of The Right Brand, RAM’s official clothing line. As of 9/26/2020, the company rebranded to Will2Rise (cringe tbh). They are no longer selling merch for other groups, and seem to primarily be focusing on RAM branded shirts and outerwear. Ryan has dutifully served as a model for both Will2Rise and Our Fight.
Ryan modeling a hoodie sold on Our Fight.
Ryan(left) modeling for Will2Rise.
The articles Ryan wrote are generally bland and boring. They aren’t very creative, and are often filled with multiple long-winded quotes from Julius Evola and/or Oswald Mosley. We have come to the conclusion that, despite the image he likes to present, Ryan has never read political theory not written by these two men. One particularly interesting piece had him interviewing Joshua Williamson, one of the subjects of our #PanzerDox series.
Boneheads:
Ryan is a probate the Vinlanders Social Club, a violent bonehead(neo-Nazi skinhead) gang responsible for several murders. Here, he can be seen wearing his probate shirt and posing with Vinlanders members including FL leader Donald Hansard. Don has a particularly violent history, and once went to jail for attacking a Cuban man and his child.
Sean wearing his VSC probate shirt
Ryan Saxer is also real good buddies with Ryan Ramsey, the region 4 representative of the Florida Libertarian party. Ramsey is a former member of neo-Nazi bonehead gang The Hated, and is a co-founder of American Guard, an incredibly violent fascist organization.
Freemasons:
For some fucking reason, in addition to all of the above, Ryan is a member of the goddamn Freemasons. He is a part of St. Petersburg’s lodge #139, and their website lists him as a “Senior Deacon”.
Ryan posing in his ceremonial mason outfit
Ryan’s masonic affiliations come as something as a surprise to us, since most Nazis seem to believe the Masons to be an international Jewish conspiracy or whatever. Interestingly enough, Ryan’s occult beliefs don’t stop there. He also reps Ordo Templi Orientus, an esoteric order dating back to the 1890’s. Here, he can be seen wearing the order’s symbol on a necklace.
The Order’s most notable member is famed occultist Alister Crowley, the founder of the religion Thelema. Thelema and and Odro Templi Orientus are still closely related, which may explain why Ryan has a tattoo of the unicursal hexagram, one of the primary symbols used by Thelema.
