UPDATED: Philadelphia KSS Exposed

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From left to right: Stacey Saunter, Joey Phy, Briana Pietropaula, AJ Olsen, Patrician Benner Vanagaitis and Bryan Vanagaitis.

Edit 3/21: Brianna Jeanne was a pseudonym her real name is Briana Pietropaula.  We will continue to update this article as we get more new info on these scumbags. To those of you who have been sending us info, thanks.

Back in October the Philadelphia chapter of the Keystone State “Skinheads”/KSS (also know as Keystone United or KU) invited Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists and generally ugly people to our city under the guise of a “Leif Ericson Day Celebration.” In reality, the event served as an opportunity to show that KSS has a street presence in Philadelphia.  However, as the report back and subsequent identification of almost all of the identities illustrated, only a handful of those in attendance actually live in Philadelphia area, and KSS had inflated their numbers with people from as far away as Indiana, Oklahoma and Washington state.  This post will serve to identify the key players in Philly KSS who were involved in bringing that mob of Neo-Nazis to our town.

Bryan Vanagaitis and Patricia Benner Vanagaitis

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jesus… there are no words…

Bryan and Patricia Vanagaitis are longtime boneheads.  They live with their son at a house at 6611 Ditman Street in Tacony . Their son is a little nazi too; one we encountered at Leif Ericson Day 3 years ago when he was briefly detained then released after getting caught with a knife.

The house on Ditman street serves as an important home base for KSS in Philly.  In addition to hosting social events there, the Vanagaitises provide housing to boneheads when they are first arriving in the city or if they need a place to stay. One guest of theirs a few years ago was a bonehead named Drew Boyle, who was eventually expelled from KSS for being a loudmouth drunk with a habit of getting arrested on embarrassing charges while they were trying to bury their history and whitewash the KSS brand.

AJ Olsen and Briana Pietropaula

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AJ Olsen is the head of Philly KSS. He spearheaded organizing the Leif Ericson day celebration as well as a new initiative by KSS called the Be Active Front, which attempt to co-opt European graffiti and Autonome imagery and language to mask their Nazism.

Briana Pietropaula (aka Briana Jeane on fb), AJ’s partner, is a supporter of KSS (originally KSS did not allow female members. it is unclear whether Patricia Vanagaitis is patched in or not but she is definitely active in the organizing and recruiting for KSS) but has yet to make that support public.  So we went ahead and did it for her.

AJ is another bonehead who lived with the Vanagaitises when he first moved from New Jersey to Philly. He was then living at 2415 Tulip street in a house owned (at the time) by Briana’s father Robert. AJ was living at 2560 Memphis Street until very recently, but he moved, possible in with Briana.

Joey Phy and Stacey Sautner

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note the thor’s hammer on Stacey’s leg as well as the Celtic Cross on Phy’s arm and SS bolts on his leg.

Joey Phy and Stacey Sautner live with their daughter at 4383 Salmon Street in Bridesburg.  Phy was under house arrest a few years ago when KSS was getting a lot of press, but recently has become very active, helping organize Leif Ericson day as well as attending a recent protest against Russian intervention in Ukraine.

There will be consequences for attempting to organize a Fascist or Nazi presence in Philadelphia, even if it ends in abject defeat for the Fascists as Leif Ericson day did last year.  Those responsible and their supporters cannot hide.

Philly Antifa Joins The Torch Network

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“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”
― Sophie Scholl

We at Philly Antifa are pleased to announce our affiliation with the newly formed Torch Antifascist Network

Points of Unity

1. We disrupt fascist and far right organizing and activity.
2. We don’t rely on the cops or courts to do our work for us. This doesn’t mean we never go to court, but the cops uphold white supremacy and the status quo. They attack us and everyone who resists oppression. We must rely on ourselves to protect ourselves and stop the fascists.
3. We oppose all forms of oppression and exploitation. We intend to do the hard work necessary to build a broad, strong movement of oppressed people centered on the working class against racism, sexism, nativism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination against the disabled, the oldest, the youngest, and the most oppressed people. We support abortion rights and reproductive freedom. We want a classless, free society. We intend to win!
4. We hold ourselves accountable personally and collectively to live up to our ideals and values.
5. We not only support each other within the network, but we also support people people outside the network who we believe have similar aims or principles. An attack on one is an attack on all.