"My son was able to operate a Gen-1 night vision, infrared scope," Jeffrey boasted to a convention of NSM members in Pemberton, New Jersey, two weeks before his death. (Just moments before Jeffrey began speaking that night, he was in a street brawl with a group of anarchists who were picketing outside the NSM's rented church conference room. Jeffrey and others took the metal chairs they were sitting on, ran outside, and began to smash them against the instigating anarchists.) The sort of racism that exists in downwardly mobile middle-class California suburbs like Riverside — where the housing crisis hit like a neutron bomb — has a different flavor than the Dixie-fried prejudice of the South. Here, racism is born more of economic friction, with minorities seen as a threat to scarce jobs. "There isn't that much to go around in suburbs like Riverside," says Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Potok tracks hate groups, especially ones like the NSM, whose numbers have been on the rise since the election of Obama in 2008 (the same year Jeffrey joined the cause). "And when people see what little they have being 'taken' by other people who look different from them," he says, "there is a more spontaneous rage." The NSM is made up of roughly 400 to 500 members, most of whom do not openly acknowledge that they donate $10 a month to a neo-Nazi organization, according to Potok. When rallies or pickets are held, typically only a dozen members attend. When they are in groups, people will give only their first name or choose a pseudonym. So when someone like Jeffrey Hall offers to open his home for monthly meetings, wave a swastika-emblazoned flag at anti-Obama rallies, and heckle day laborers with a megaphone on street corners while dressed in an SS uniform, he draws a lot of attention. In 2008, when Jeffrey first joined the NSM, he was an out-of-work plumber living in his mother's house with his wife and four children in the university district of Riverside. His mother, JoAnn Patterson, would tell 60 Minutes that Jeffrey joined the NSM because he was frustrated by the recession. The Associated Press reported that Hall joined shortly after he claimed a relative by marriage was killed by an illegal immigrant in a hit-and-run accident. The details of Jeffrey's own upbringing remain opaque beyond allegations that Jeffrey had witnessed his father abusing his mother. Jeffrey was a big guy, at 6 feet 3 inches, with a skull and a crucifix tattooed on the back of his head. Despite Jeffrey's intimidating physical appearance, many within the NSM found him to be warm and gregarious, says Jeff Schoep, Commander of the NSM, from his headquarters in Detroit. Jeffrey quickly shot up through the ranks and in 2009 was appointed Southwestern States Regional Director. "We don't barter for positions in this organization," Schoep says. "You earn rank and title. He was a frontline guy. Ready to fight the Reds and anyone else who gave us shit." Schoep claims that before he made Jeffrey Southwestern director, he checked him out fully. "The NSM is not a harbor for child-abusers, wife-beaters, and junkies," he says. (Although, according to Potok, Schoep pleaded guilty in aiding and abetting a burglary.) "We had several members who spent the night at Jeffrey's house and spent time around him and the kids, they all thought he was a very devoted father, and I still believe he was." Schoep says that there were several times when he would call Jeffrey and the young father would be out with his children at the park "or pushing his daughter on a swing." Jeffrey threw himself into the Nazi movement with the glee of a teenager who has discovered his new favorite band. He often called and emailed Schoep with ideas for rallies and public demonstrations. It was Jeffrey who suggested starting border patrols along the California-Mexico border. After one nocturnal excursion, Jeffrey asked Schoep for his home address so he could send him "treasures" he found along the border. Later that week, Schoep received a box filled with discarded backpacks and water bottles from migrants. "He had a weird sense of humor," Schoep recalls fondly. Neither Jeffrey nor Krista were employed at the time of the killing. In 2008, Jeffrey started drinking heavily, according to court documents. When Jeffrey's drinking got out of control, the children would go to the master bedroom with Krista and lock the door. CPS investigated Jeffrey for his drinking and suspected drug use, and they found an exploded whiskey still he built in the kitchen, but somehow concluded the children faced no imminent danger. As Joseph's condition worsened, Jeffrey was ever more preoccupied with his Nazi activities. On a sunny October day in 2009, Jeffrey, dressed in an all-black SS uniform, led a public demonstration against a day-laborer site in downtown Riverside, chanting, "Whose streets? Our streets!" The amount of counter protesters were triple that of NSM's. The NSM members vigorously taunted the crowd and shouted, "!" Jeffrey yelled into the microphone: "Illegal aliens, all we ask is that you man up! You have all the natural resources, just man up and go home. You were defeated in the Mexican-American war." A fight erupted between members of a Chicano group and the NSM. "This is the violence we're protesting against — you're animals!" Jeffrey shouted. "This is who you are. You need to concentrate on your own homeland. White power! White power! Just be happy you have the freedom here to do what you do for now." In 2010, Jeffrey ran for the Riverside municipal water board. He attended no forums, posted no signs. He gave one interview where he affirmed his support of an "all-white nation." His name appeared on the November ballot with his Nazi party affiliation. He received roughly 30% of the vote, with over 8,000 ballots cast in his favor. It wasn't until 2010 that someone finally demanded Joseph be taken out of the Nazi home. Ironically, the demand came from Leticia, who had been absent from his life for six years. Filing for full custody of Joseph and Cindy, Leticia stated in her brief, "Jeffrey Hall is currently president in the neo-Nazi group and I'm really scared of what will happen to my kids." The woman who allegedly subjected her son to prenatal drug exposure and who fled the state after her boyfriend was accused of sexually molesting Joseph wound up the only adult on record calling for him to be released from a home full of Nazi uniforms, hate speech, and weapons. Yet Riverside's family court found that Jeffrey's leadership within the NSM was not grounds for removing the children. Leticia's request was denied. At the same time, a chain of events began to unfold that led directly to the murder. In early 2011, Jeffrey began an affair with a woman named Sam, according to both the prosecutor and public defender. He and Krista began to argue constantly after she discovered the affair. Sam, also a member of the NSM, lived in the Midwest and was in constant contact with Jeffrey by phone and email. Krista sent Joseph and Cindy on "spying missions" to eavesdrop on Jeffrey's conversations with Sam, according to public defender Matt Hardy. Jeffrey repeatedly threatened to leave the family to be with Sam. During an argument on Easter Sunday in 2011, shortly before the killing, Jeffrey threw a glass at Krista and allegedly cut her with the broken glass, Joseph told his defense team. A week later, on April 30, 2011, Jeffrey hosted the monthly NSM meeting and barbecue at his house. The family put on a wholesome front as they served up hamburgers and hot dogs to Jeffrey's Nazi comrades. Joseph's grandmother, JoAnn, attended the gathering. "I wanted to make sure it was OK for my grandkids to be there," JoAnn would later tell. "And I had a great time! It looked like any barbecue in any backyard in America." After Jeffrey read an excerpt fromand reported on new NSM business, he and his comrades played drinking games and downed whiskey shots. During the gathering, Jeffrey gave Joseph an SS belt buckle. Jeffrey and Krista started to argue after the barbecue. Jeffrey threatened to turn off all the smoke detectors and set the house on fire while Krista and the children were asleep, Joseph told his defense-appointed psychologist. That allegation was also corroborated by Krista and by Joseph's younger sister, Cindy. Jeffrey left to give a fellow NSM member a ride home, and Krista put on a "Yogi Bear" movie for the children before bed. That night, both sides stipulate, Jeffrey sent Krista three profanity-laced text messages telling her he was leaving her, he wanted her out of the house by the time he returned, and that she needed to find a new place to live. Jeffrey returned home and fell asleep on the couch.