Robert Paul Rundo, the 28-year-old leader of the violent Rise Above Movement (RAM), who fled the U.S. earlier this month for Mexico and then Central America, is now in federal custody. Rundo and his group beat counter-protesters to a pulp at a “Make America Great Again” rally.
He was arrested Sunday and brought back to the U.S. on Monday. Rundo is charged with conspiracy to commit violence and incite riots at the 2017 Charlottesville rally, and at 2017 political rallies in Huntington Beach, Berkley and San Bernardino, according to a criminal complaint published by the New York Times.
RAM is based in Southern California and commits violent acts in the state and elsewhere. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the group as “an overtly racist, violent right-wing fight club that attends rallies around the country to do open combat with counter-protesters.”
Two other members of the group, Robert Boman and Tyler Laube, were also arrested. Authorities are still searching for Aaron Eason. Last March, the four attacked a group of counter-protesters and two journalists at a “Make America Great Again” rally in Huntington Beach. The men then celebrated the coverage of their violent acts online.
ProPublica conducted an investigation, last year, on the group, which revealed they were at the center of the violence during the deadly Unite the Right rally in 2017. One of its members was the white man dispensing beatings near Emancipation Park on Aug. 12.
RAM’s members spend weekends training in boxing and other martial arts.
“Fundamentally, RAM operates like an alt-right street-fighting club,” said Oren Segal, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.
U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said, in a press release, “Every American has a right to peacefully organize, march and protest in support of their beliefs — but no one has the right to violently assault their political opponents.”
