Bridgeport - The goal was to increase the Connecticut White Wolves' presence in the white supremacy movement by selling guns to an associate of the Ku Klux Klan.
But the associate was an FBI informant, and all the plan accomplished was landing three suspected Wolves members and followers in federal prison.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall sentenced the last of the trio, William Bolton, 32, a U.S. Army and Navy veteran formerly of Milford and Stratford, to 30 months in prison. He previously pleaded guilty to plotting the robbery of an Ansonia weapons collector and to selling a sawed-off rifle to a convicted felon.
"He's not a bad guy," attorney Alexander Schwartz said of Bolton, his client. "It's unfortunate he got wrapped up in Alex DeFelice."
DeFelice, a 33-year-old Milford man, was convicted last fall on a number of federal weapons charges, including manufacturing hand grenades. Hall sentenced him to 10 years in prison. A third man, Edwin Westmoreland, of Stratford, received a 40-month sentence on three federal weapons charges.
Kenneth Zrallack Jr., the 29-year-old reputed head of the White Wolves, now known as Battalion 14 Connecticut Chapter of North East White Pride, was acquitted of all charges by the jury.
And the judge was not convinced that Bolton fell completely under DeFelice's spell.
"For a person who served his country," Hall said, "I don't understand how he could have a conversation contemplating a home invasion."
On Jan. 31, 2009, Bolton, DeFelice and the informant drove past the collector's apartment and discussed their plans, which included "shanking" the man on the back of the head if he was home. "In context of all the evidence in this case, it's pretty chilling," the judge said. "Obviously if he had gone through with this ... he'd probably be looking at life."
Bolton also was part of a late fall 2008 White Wolves discussion as to how a race war might result if President Barack Obama were assassinated. While the discussion occurred, it did not involve any claims of planning or participation in any attack on the president.
Bolton, a short, stocky balding man, admitted he was "wrong and sincerely apologize."
He said his involvement with DeFelice was out of "sheer stupidity and desperation. I didn't have friends at the time."
Bolton has been in custody since his arrest on March 20, 2010, at an Army base in Virginia.
