Federal prosecutors have charged a Staten Island, New York, man with making threats to kill and ordering others to kill politicians, law enforcement and people who were celebrating the results of the presidential election, according to court filings.
Prosecutors say Brian Maiorana, 54, sent multiple death threats through an undisclosed social media platform “threatening to kill and ordering others to kill protestors, politicians and law enforcement officers” between September and Sunday, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.
At an initial appearance for Maiorana held remotely Tuesday, Assistant US Attorney Artie McConnell said Maiorana is a flight risk and “irremediable” danger to the community.
“The complaint makes clear that in the wake of the results of the presidential election, this defendant greatly exceeded what can be considered political hyperbole,” McConnell said.
“He used words like ‘carnage,’ ‘extermination,’ ‘assassination.’ He encouraged people to take ‘offensive action’ in an effort to threaten to kill members of the government including law enforcement agents, even going so far as calling for the bombing of an FBI building and citing the Turner Diaries, which has been the inspiration for numerous acts of terrorism including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.”
James Darrow, an attorney for Maiorana, had no comment when contacted by CNN. Maiorana is being held pending trial. Darrow said he will likely argue for bail at a later point.
Not simply ‘idle chatter’
McConnell said at the hearing that a search warrant executed Tuesday morning at Maiorana’s home shows that his words were not “simply idle chatter in the wake of the presidential election.”
McConnell said authorities found a semi-automatic Glock pistol, two magazines, additional gun parts for a .22-caliber firearm and .22-caliber ammunition, as well as gun accessories. McConnell also said Maiorana was a flight risk, and said he was in possession of literature that discussed how to obtain citizenship in other countries and a foreign passport quickly.
In their criminal complaint, prosecutors said financial records show he purchased gun parts for a semi-automatic handgun this summer.
Maiorana is a Level 1 registered sex offender in New York state because of a 2007 felony conviction for statutory sexual assault, prosecutors said, and because of his felony conviction, he is “barred from possessing or obtaining firearms or ammunition.”
According to the criminal complaint, on November 5, two days after Election Day, Maiorana allegedly posted, “The carnage needs to come in the form of extermination of anyone that claims to be democrat … as well as their family members.”
Sunday, according to the complaint, Maiorana allegedly wrote, “All right thinking people need to hit the streets while these scumbags are celebrating and start blowing them away.” FBI special agent Nathan Rudnick said in a sworn affidavit included as part of the complaint that he assessed the comment as referring to “those celebrating the result of the 2020 Presidential Election.”
Later that day, Maiorana allegedly posted, “Soap Box, Ballot Box … that was fraudulently stolen from us, Now Cartridge Box,” according to the complaint. Rudnick wrote in his affidavit that he believes “Cartridge Box” refers to ammunition.
Maiorana also allegedly used anti-Semitic language to refer to US Sen. Chuck Schumer and called to blow up a federal building, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors said in the complaint that the postings were linked to Maiorana through an IP address linked to his home address.
