WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—The leader of a notorious anti-Semitic hate group, the Goyim Defense League (GDL), was given a littering misdemeanor and sentenced to 30 days in jail on Nov. 1 for dumping hundreds of threatening messages on the doorsteps of West Palm Beach residents’ homes.
Now such an act is punishable as a class three felony under a Florida law passed on May 1, 2023.
Jon Minadeo was cited for littering in March when he and four other associates drove a pickup truck around West Palm Beach and dumped hundreds of small bags filled with anti-Semitic hate fliers and weighted pellets on residents’ private property.
The defendants allegedly threw the bags from the back of the truck while driving down neighborhood roads.
But with the Florida law passed earlier this year, authorities will no longer treat these actions as mere littering.
The bill prohibits a person from “distributing onto private property any material for the purpose of intimidating or threatening the owner, resident, or invitee of such property,” or containing a “credible threat to the owner, resident, or invitee of such property.”
It criminalizes “willfully and maliciously harassing, threatening, or intimidating another person based on the person’s wearing or displaying of any indicia relating to any religious or ethnic heritage.”
The law also blocks “the display or projection of images onto a building, structure, or property” without permission.
It prohibits anyone from willfully entering a Florida College System institution or state university with the “purpose of threatening or intimidating another person from remaining on such campus.” It extends this prohibition to “interference with certain assemblies.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which the GDL parodies with its name choice, defines the latter as a hate group and tracks members’ public grievances.
The majority of these incidents occurred in California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Illinois, and New York.
Humberto Lazo, a West Palm Beach resident, was one of Mr. Minadeo’s March victims.
“We had a gathering of people from work at my house,” he said. “And when everybody was leaving, you know, I let the dogs out. And I noticed something on the front lawn. It was like a bag of something. And when I saw what it was, I took a picture.”
His neighbor’s surveillance cameras caught Mr. Minadeo in the act. The group went from home to home in broad daylight, dumping the bags of hate messages on driveways, lawns, and doorsteps.
While Mr. Lazo does not display any flags, signs, or banners on his home’s exterior to reveal his identity, he is of Jewish heritage and says many in his neighborhood share his background.
The community he works in is “99 percent Jewish,” he said.
“I was disgusted,” Mr. Lazo explained. “I thought at first that it was rat poison,” referring to the weighted pellets put in the bag to make it easier to throw.
Being of both Cuban and Jewish heritage, Mr. Lazo has experienced discrimination throughout his life.
But after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, his senses are heightened, and he fixates on strange cars pulling up next to his own and strangers in the street that glance in his direction for more than a few seconds.
Living his heritage and identity covertly is not enough to assuage his fears amid the geopolitical climate in Israel and the rest of the world.
“I never really expose myself as anything, you know. I have an American flag in my house, and that’s it. But I’m actually afraid to put [up] something that could get somebody’s attention and use it against me,” Mr. Lazo added.
“There was a rally with swastika flags right in front of Disney’s entrance. And it was openly, out there, and nothing happened,” he said, highlighting the lack of law enforcement responses to the incident.
“And it happens all of the time. From what I understand, [the GDL] do rallies like that all of the time. Literally, with the flags going, walking by, in trucks, and stuff like that. That’s happening.”
But with Florida’s HB-269, some of these actions will no longer run under the radar of police and state responses.
According to State Attorney Dave Aronberg, Mr. Minadeo’s littering misdemeanor came with a maximum sentence of 60 days in jail.
If he engages in the same behavior again—something Mr. Minadeo intends to do again, according to authorities—he could be charged with a class three felony and face five years in state prison.
“We use this charge of littering because it was the only tool in our arsenal against these hate mongers. Now, because of a bill sponsor, Rep. Mike Caruso, we have new arrows in our quiver. We have new powers to go after these individuals criminally for spreading their filth,” Mr. Aronberg said at a press conference on Nov. 1.
“The next time they get arrested, it just won’t be for a misdemeanor; it could be for a felony and can be for the contents of their literature.
“So let all the hate mongers, all the anti-Semites, all the neo-Nazis be forewarned that Palm Beach County has zero tolerance for hate. We will not be intimidated by anti-semitism—we will push back strongly,” he added.
That language was absent in the bill version signed into law earlier this year.
Elon Gerberg, director at SVN Commercial Partners, is an outspoken advocate for the Jewish community and a sharp critic of Mr. Minadeo and the GDL.
He defends Mr. Minadeo’s constitutional right to speak his mind but draws a sharp distinction between free speech and the acts criminalized by HB-269.
“So I think that people have a right to say what they want to,” Mr. Gerberg told The Epoch Times. “You know, I’m a constitutionalist, and I think they should have the right to do that.
“But I think what, what people misunderstand ... it’s not saying that you can’t voice your opinions, that you can’t publish your opinions, that you can’t say your opinions.
“What it is saying is you can’t go on private property and do that.”
He added, “You can’t go to a synagogue and start dropping leaflets [and] can’t start going into Jewish neighborhoods and start dropping them on their doorstep.
“You can’t take a light and broadcast it on their building. You know, do it at your house, do it at your place, do it, you know, at a public area where that’s tolerated. But, private property is, I think, a different situation.”
Mr. Lazo is also happy to see the new law, partly because of his frustration with Mr. Minadeo’s sentencing.
“Oh, it’s just 30 days, just sitting there in jail, eating and doing nothing. That’s nothing. Thirty days is 30 days—it goes on like nothing,” Mr. Lazo said.
“They should do a little bit more than 30 days. I think they should do some sort of community work. They should be involved with the community; they should go to places where people worship and see what people do when they go to church.”
But Mr. Gerberg argues that inevitably, Mr. Minadeo’s goal is a combination of self-promotion, shock, and self-aggrandizement.
“And so I think that’s really his shtick, right? I mean, I think he shows up to areas where there’s a lot of traffic and puts signs up that are very controversial, especially during a time like this, and now add-in ... what’s going on in Israel.
“A lot of it is him just grifting, and that’s obviously his position, but I think it’s more of a publicity grab, in my opinion,” Mr. Gerberg said.
“I know that he was outside of synagogues, like literally as people were running out of the synagogue, he’s on the sidewalk right there ... calling people ‘Jewish pigs’ and then posting it online.
“And then obviously, you know, it goes viral very quickly ... and that’s sort of his shtick,” he noted.
According to the ADL’s report, “the GDL’s primary activity is the distribution of anti-Semitic propaganda, including occasional banner drops typically from overpasses on major thoroughfares.”
The report continues, “The increase [with incidents between 2021 and 2023] corresponds with the network’s initiation of coordinated propaganda campaigns that began in December 2021.
“GDL’s 2022 propaganda blames the Jewish community for a variety of perceived social grievances, including immigration, pornography, and abortion.”
Mr. Aronberg hopes the GDL leader’s conviction and sentencing will send a message to others looking to spread hate and fear in Florida communities.
“We will continue to do what we did in this case, working with our law enforcement partners. Our message to these guys—stay away from Palm Beach County. And if you’re here—you better leave,” he said.
