Operation Red Dog

{{sources needed}}{{imperialism}}
{{cquote|I don't know if anyone in Dominica has that much money.  If there is someone who wants to waste money out there, I wish he'd give it to me so I could fix the roads.<ref name="time">[https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,949118,00.html Bayou of Pigs - A coup that fizzled]. ''Time Magazine''. Time Inc. May 11, 1981. Retrieved October 22nd, 2021.</ref>|||Then-Dominican Prime Minister Eugenia Charles, on the financial backing of this operation (around US$100,000)}}

'''Operation Red Dog''' was a 1981 plot to overthrow the government of the Caribbean island of {{wpl|Dominica}} by several members of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], undercover agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, a former prime minister of Dominica, and several other [[right-wing]] [[Mercenary|mercenaries]].

==The plan==
KKK Grand Wizards [[Don Black]] of the [[United States]] and Wolfgang Droege of [[Canada|Klanada]], along with long-standing member Mike Perdue (who, against most KKK regulations, was homosexual) hatched an idea that they and a small group of individuals would charter a boat from New Orleans to Dominica, loaded with firearms and [[Nazism | Nazi]] paraphernalia, to rendezvous with deposed former Dominican prime minister Patrick John and a small army that he had assembled, take over the small island nation, and turn it into a [[White supremacy | white supremacist]] haven (although some accounts have the purpose of the operation as opening several lucrative businesses, including cocaine-running and brothels).

==The foiling of said plan==
The crew and boat captain that KKK leader [[David Duke]] had himself chartered backed out of the operation at the last minute, and Mike Perdue asked Vietnam Vet Michael Howell, under the guise of the [[CIA]] needing the boat for a secret operation, to assist in troop transport.  Howell contacted federal agencies, and John was arrested in Dominica.  For some reason, the operation was attempted anyway, and the group involved were arrested in New Orleans by the [[FBI]].  Most of the involved received 1-3 year prison sentences.  Duke pled the [[Fifth Amendment|fifth]] and was never charged.  Droege was shot and killed in 2005 in Toronto.<ref name="dominican">[http://www.thedominican.net/articles/droege.htm Wolfgang Droege White Supremacist who Tried to Overthrow Dominica's Government is Shot to Death]. ''TheDominican.Net''. April 05, 2005. Retrieved October 22nd, 2021.</ref>  Don Black (and his ironic surname) is the founder of [[Stormfront]].

==Various notes==
*An alternate name for the operation, as coined by the "good guys" is the ''Bayou of Pigs'', a name drawn from the Bay of Pigs, a failed attempt to overthrow the [[Fidel Castro|Castro]] government of [[Cuba]].
*The original plot was to take over the island of [[Grenada]]. Reagan would do something similar a few years later.
*Droege said of the attempted coup and his imprisonment: "We had the men and the resources, it was just unfortunate that we got caught.. .but jail wasn't that bad. It really put American society and the racial issue into perspective. Plus, it gave me an opportunity to network with other [[racialist]] leaders, which really helped me after I got out."<ref name="dominican"/>
*The foiling of the attempted coup was the final impetus for Louis Beam to begin writing his "Leaderless Resistance" manifesto that he would share with others in his inner circle in 1983 before popularizing it in the following decade as part of his strategy to make the American far-right much harder to crack down fully so they can retain their power to perform a fascist coup once they have reached critical mass ([[January 6|which came dangerously close]])

==External links==
*[http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/238897/white_supremacists_the_bayou_of_pigs_pg2_pg2.html?cat=37 Associated Content]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Coups]]
[[Category:Crime]]
[[Category:Imperialism]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazism]]
[[Category:United States history]]

Categories: Coups, Crime, Imperialism, Racism, Neo-Nazism, United States history