A former local businessman joined what is being called a neo-Nazi march earlier this month, and his neighbors in the Cincinnati-area town of Glendale held a peaceful vigil on Dec. 17 in response.
Keith Elflein, who once owned Herrenhaus Elflein in Ashville, Ohio, was one of 23 men who participated in a Dec. 6 rally and march in Little Rock, Arkansas, police there confirmed.
A report from the Little Rock Police Department said Elflein is a 51-year-old resident of Glendale, Ohio who was “marching from the Arkansas state capitol.”
The marchers, who also gathered outside Little Rock Central High School, are part of a group called Blood Tribe, multiple news reports said. Their names became public after police ticketed the driver of the U-Haul they were traveling in for having passengers in the back of the box truck. The Little Rock police department provided its report via an email titled “Blood Tribe report.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Blood Tribe as a white supremacist group that admires Adolf Hitler.
Elflein, in a statement issued Dec. 16, said: “I am simply a concerned husband and father who is worried enough about my children’s future to lawfully demonstrate and exercise my First Amendment rights.”
No place for hate in Glendale, officials say
Glendale Mayor Michael Besl said he could not comment on any legal issues related to Elflein.
But as an individual resident, he said he believes views considered racist “are not representative of this village.”
He said members of the community are upset by news of Elflein’s trip to Little Rock, with some learning about it on the Reddit social media site. “We know each other. We take care of each other,” Besl said.
In a statement, Village Administrator David Lumsden said there was “no place in Glendale for racism, antisemitism, white supremacy, or hate of any kind,” adding that “we stand together in rejecting hate in all its forms.”
Residents responded to Elflein’s participation with Blood Tribe at a peaceful vigil Dec. 17, in the Glendale Village Square. A group that goes by Glendale Cares decided to organize the event, according to the mayor.
Its Facebook page says “The mission of Glendale Cares is to foster inter-community awareness and unity in Glendale. We seek to make EVERYONE — regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic background, gender identity or sexual orientation — feel valued, included and supported. And to foster conversations that lead to action and meaningful, positive change within the community.”
Elflein involved in worlds of finance and wine
Elflein and his family moved to Fountain Avenue in Glendale in 2021, buying a four-bedroom home there for $810,000, according to Hamilton County auditor records.
His current employment could not be confirmed. He earlier worked for a number of financial services organizations with business addresses in Boston; Groton, Connecticut; and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, according to the LexisNexis database.
In 2019, he and his wife opened Herrenhaus Elflein, according to a story in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette.
The plan for the 8-acre property was to plant 1,400 grapevines, with a tasting room, patio and wine production space. Elflein said his family was from northern Bavaria in Germany and that he lived there for a while.
A native of Columbus, Elflein told the Eagle-Gazette that he left the finance and investment business in Boston to return to Ohio and open the winery.
The winery, located just southeast of Columbus, is now operating under a different name under new owners.
Elflein says he is ‘concerned husband and father’
Elflein did not respond to The Enquirer’s initial requests for comment. On Dec. 16, however, he sent a statement via email.
“I have always been friendly, helpful, and cordial to all of my neighbors and associates, regardless of their beliefs,” his statement said. “I am simply a concerned husband and father who is worried enough about my children’s future to lawfully demonstrate and exercise my First Amendment rights.”
He believes his rights and privacy were “egregiously violated” by the Little Rock Police Department and that his family is now “at risk of harm for political retribution,” his statement said.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinions on what is the best future for this country, except me apparently,” he said. “I doubt the counter protesters in Glendale Wednesday will be receiving death and arson threats against their families.”
Blood Tribe demonstrated at civil rights site
Wearing masks and dressed in red and black, members of Blood Tribe converged at the Arkansas Capitol, then moved to a statue of the Little Rock Nine, then the high school, Little Rock Police Chief Heath Helton told the city’s Board of Directors.
At one point, they marched through a predominantly Black neighborhood, waving swastika flags and chanting “white power,” according to a video included in coverage by the Arkansas Times.
After posing for a photo in front of the school, the men climbed into the back of a U-Haul truck and departed, police said. The police department alerted the Arkansas State Police, which pulled over the truck on Interstate 440, the police report said.
Officials ticketed the truck’s driver for having more passengers than seats and released the others to arrange other transportation, department spokesperson Mark Edwards said. Members of the group were “reportedly … armed,” the police report said. None were charged with crimes.
Blood Tribe played role in Springfield, Ohio
Blood Tribe is a “white supremacist group with chapters in multiple states whose members stage brash, theatrical demonstrations using explicit Nazi imagery,” the Southern Poverty Law Center online listing of the group said.
Since its founding in 2022, the group has organized rallies in Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Tennessee, South Dakota and Pennsylvania.
In 2024, group members “played a key role in spreading false rumors that non-white immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets,” the center said. The city of Springfield sued the group earlier this year, saying its members were spreading fear and anger in the community.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Former local businessman participated in neo-Nazi event
Reporting by Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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