The Mahon twins first got involved in white supremacist activism in the 1970s when they joined the
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Mahon claimed that he was inspired to join the Klan after he had read
The Turner Diaries during a time when he was working as an aircraft mechanic in
Florida. He also joined the
National Alliance in 1980. Journalist
Molly Conger notes he was likely further radicalized while working as a member of the
Florida National Guard during the
Mariel boatlift, which Mahon frequently discussed negatively. He told
The Oklahoman he was involved in "underground, terroristic activities" for the Klan from 1980 to 1987. While Mahon was not charged for any activities during this time, he claimed on wiretapped calls to have set off
pipe bombs and destroyed
transformers. Mahon published
The White Beret newsletter from around 1989 to 1995, but only the December 1991-January 1992 issue has survived into the 21st century. Mahon's twin brother provided a copy of the issue to an
Atomwaffen Division splinter group attempting to archive white supremacist literature.
Klansas City Kable In 1987, Mahon was the "King Klegal," or regional manager, of the Missouri Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The next year he formed a splinter group, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. In January 1988, he began work on getting a Klan television show on
Kansas City Public Television. The city refused to air
Tom Metzger's
Race and Reason show because it was not produced in their studios. By summer, the
Kansas City City Council voted to shut down the city's public television channel to prevent the airing of Mahon's Klan television show, but the
American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of the Klan. Mahon, Metzger, and his attorney appeared on the September 1, 1988, episode of
The Oprah Winfrey Show where they debated the Kansas City Public Television controversy with
C. T. Vivian,
Emanuel Cleaver, and an Orthodox
rabbi. In the summer of 1989 the city settled by reinstating the channel and paid $97,000 to Mahon. One episode of
Klansas City Kable aired on April 3, 1990. 19 klansmen were arrested during the filming of the episode after one pulled a gun on a Black passerby. In 1989 Mahon unsuccessfully ran for alderman in
Northmoor, Missouri, on a platform of keeping the community white. In October 1990, his Klan group handed out a Klan hotline phone number at Kansas City elementary and middle schools. The hotlines played the theme song for ''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' followed by a Klansman pretending to be
Fred Rogers while making
homophobic and
racist remarks. Rogers sued for
copyright infringement over the use of his theme song and Mahon signed the settlement agreement on behalf of the Klan. The agreement required the destruction of all copies of the Klan's hotline recording.
Move to Oklahoma By 1990, Mahon had moved to
Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was the Imperial Dragon of the local Ku Klux Klan. Journalist
Molly Conger calls Mahon
Tom Metzger's "midwest lieutenant." He built ties between local
white power skinhead groups, the Ku Klux Klan,
Aryan Nation, and
White Aryan Resistance in
Oklahoma during early 1990s. By 1991, he was suspected of spreading
white supremacist fliers and graffiti at
Memorial High School. In 1990, a white power skinhead in
Germany began writing Mahon and republishing his
The White Beret newsletter in
German as
The Fiery Cross. The next year, travelled to
Germany in an attempt to recruit members for the American KKK. During his stay in the country, he led a
cross burning ceremony with 60 neo-Nazis in an area southeast of
Berlin. Mahon claimed he encouraged German recruits to firebomb buildings occupied by foreigners and that he trained them in guerilla warfare. He held the rally during the
Hoyerswerda riots. In 1991 Mahon held a rally in
Tulsa in support of the then-president of Iraq
Saddam Hussein and to protest the ongoing
Persian Gulf War. Mahon would later claim that he had received funding directly from the Iraqi government. Mahon felt that the Klan had gotten too moderate and he also felt that the Klan's membership was full of informants and low-quality recruits. In 1992, Mahon ran to be the
mayor of Tulsa. He ran as a
Republican, but the local party denounced his candidacy. 54 candidates appeared on the ballot and Mahon received 186 votes, or 0.2%. In 1993, Mahon travelled to
Canada on behalf of Metzger but he was deported back to America shortly after he arrived in Canada because Canadian authorities claimed that he was a threat. ==Alleged ties to the Oklahoma City bombing==