Officials: Enforcers with links to supremacists attacked couple

Allegedly seeking to collect on a narcotics debt, a farmer allegedly hired men with ties to a white supremacist prison gang to injure a couple, Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Quinlan said Wednesday.

The farmer, 61-year-old Jeffrey Hoenig of Sturbridge, and 26-year-old Dennis Burke and 41-year-old Aaron Hadley, both of Southbridge, were ordered held for up to 90 days after a hearing in Dudley District Court to determine their dangerousness to the community.

A third alleged enforcer, 41-year-old Ryan Cross, of Morris, Conn., is in custody in Connecticut, while a fourth allegedly admitted to the crime and implicated the others, authorities said.

The case came together through the recent, unrelated arrest of the alleged fourth man, Darrell E. Friedland, 33, of Southbridge. He allegedly fired a gun outside a Central Street bar early on Dec. 28.

Mr. Friedland subsequently admitted to being part of the home invasion in Dudley, which was ordered by Mr. Hoenig, state police Sgt. Michael Sampson testified.

The home invasion occurred Dec. 13 at 42 Oxford St. A man suffered a head injury and a woman a leg injury in the attack.

Mr. Friedland allegedly admitted he is a captain in the Aryan Brotherhood, Sgt. Sampson said.

Mr. Friedland said Mr. Cross and Mr. Hadley were members of the white supremacist group, while Mr. Burke was a prospect, the sergeant testified.

The men had made money from selling heroin, but didn’t like that business, so they went into cocaine sales and worked as “hired guns to collect debts in furtherance to home invasions for drug deals,” the sergeant said.

Mr. Hoenig allegedly hired the men to break the two victims’ legs using bats, Sgt. Sampson testified.

Mr. Hoenig, Mr. Hadley, Mr. Burke and Mr. Cross were arrested in a two-state, New Year’s Day raid by the South County Crime and Drug Task Force.

Mr. Cross has yet to be arraigned in Dudley.

Mr. Friedland even told police about other home invasions they were planning, the sergeant said.

In a case that is still under investigation, the enforcers lit a barn fire to gauge what the police response would be before they targeted a specific home, the sergeant said.

Southbridge police Sgt. Carlos Dingui had advised Sgt. Sampson that Mr. Friedland, during his admission, expressed concern for officers’ safety during their planned raid, Sgt. Sampson testified.

Mr. Friedland allegedly warned officers that Mr. Hoenig was heavily armed, had nothing to lose and would fight back, the sergeant said.

The sergeant said 18 items were recovered from Mr. Hoenig’s home, including rifles, shotguns, a revolver and a photo that hung in his house of a Klu Klux Klan member holding a black person in a leash. The latter item was deemed irrelevant by the judge, because no hate crime was alleged.

Mr. Hoenig’s lawyer, Richard A. Eustis, said that except for motor vehicle violations, his client’s record has been clean for 30 years.

Mr. Hoenig lives on a 100-acre farm at 30 Ladd Road, Sturbridge, where he has about 100 chickens, raises dogs and collects disability, the lawyer said.

The guns were either given to him by his father, or were purchased when Mr. Hoenig was a boy. All were used to keep coyotes away from the chickens, the lawyer said.

Mr. Eustis also noted “the double layer of hearsay” allowed into evidence. The state, Mr. Eustis said, could have put Mr. Friedland and his checkered history on the witness stand instead of allowing Sgt. Sampson to speak in his place.

The lawyer also took aim at the alleged victims’ conflicting statements.

Mr. Eustis said the police report, which was impounded by the judge, said the female victim told police her fiancé was dead. But she testified she didn’t remember making the claim.

Lawyer Alan Rosenfield, who represented Mr. Hadley, also questioned the credibility of the evidence, noting that the male victim admitted he sold Percocets, but denied being a drug dealer. The lawyer also said the female victim admitted to consuming five Percocets “perhaps within a 24-hour period.”

Mr. Rosenfeld also said that the woman recalled seeing Mr. Hadley, yet the police report made no mention of his facial hair and various tattoos on his hands, which she would have seen, the lawyer argued.

Lawyer Daniel Doyle, who represents Mr. Burke, said the evidence against his client — Mr. Friedland’s alleged statement that “someone named Dennis” was involved — was particularly weak.