The White Lives Matter associate was indicted last week and is scheduled for trial next month.
FREEHOLD, NJ – Nicholas G. Mucci has spent the five months in the Monmouth County Jail after being arrested in March on charges of arson, aggravated assault and terroristic threats stemming from his alleged attack on a show in January benefitting One People’s Project at a church in Asbury Park, NJ. Last week, a state grand jury handed up a 15-count indictment against Mucci that could result in a ten-year prison sentence.
According to news reports, Mucci, 28 of Toms River, NJ, has been charged in the indictment with:
- aggravated arson;
- two counts of causing or risking widespread injury or damage;
- two counts of possession of a destructive device;
- unlawful possession of a weapon;
- two counts of possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes;
- two counts of aggravated assault;
- two counts of making terroristic threats;
- possession of an assault firearm;
- possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine; and
- hindering
Mucci has been ordered to remain in jail until trial because he has been deemed a threat to the public following his arrest which took place after a rally put on by various local hate groups during the Toms River Irish Festival on March 4. While he was incarcerated, he and fellow White Lives Matter associate Claudino Petrucelli were identified online by Ford Fischer as the two individuals who pepper sprayed those protesting an event put on by Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes and neo-Fascist troll Alex Stein last October at Penn State. That act of violence contributed to the event being shut down before it started.
News reports further say that Mucci recapped the events of the Jan. 27 attack on the hardcore show at the Trinity Episcopal Parish in a video he recorded while driving, “including how the bear spray he released at the concertgoers burned his eyes,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Ironically, none of those who were attending the show reported any such injuries. Mucci was identified as a suspect via a license plate reader that identified him and his vehicle — and, ultimately, Mucci according to Platkin who also said records showed that his cell phone had “gone dark” during the incident, Platkin said. The smoke bombs he reportedly used had the logo of the store they were sold at and per local laws regarding the purchase of fireworks, Mucci had to present his old North Carolina driver’s license in order to purchase them on Oct. 23, one day before the McInnes event at Penn State.
At the time of his arrest, a raid was conducted on his home where law enforcement found an AR-style rifle, several large capacity ammunition magazines which would be illegal under New Jersey law if it was over a ten round capacity, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, “White Lives Matter” and other white nationalist propaganda in both his home and vehicle and the bear spray used in the attack on the show.
The news of the indictment prompted a Telegram post from the account of a user named “Titus,” that is believed to be Dan D’Ambly, founder of the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA) who has staged several clandestine rallies with other hate organizations in the state, including the March 4 event in Toms River and most recently one in Princeton that was met with a few antifascists that learned of their plans to rally and ridiculed their small group. “BLM (Black Lives Matter)/antifa terrorists commited (sic) actual violence and murder during the 2020 St George Floyd riots yet hardly any were prosecuted and none were treated like this,” Titus wrote, referring to protests that were in response to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, some becoming rebellions in a number of cities and despite the declaration of the posting resulted in over 14,000 arrests by the end of June. Earlier this year, in relation to a lawsuit he had filed against other antifascists and his former employer the New York Daily News, D’Ambly attempted to compel One People’s Project via subpoena to provide information about the Torch Network incorrectly assuming that OPP was a part of the Network. As the case is moving to be settled on Aug. 24, the subpoena will be terminated against OPP, who is not a member of the Torch Network, not a defendant in D’Ambly’s case and was opposing this motion.
Mucci is scheduled to be in court on Sept. 11.
The possession of the ammunition is probably illegal too, since a NJ firearm purchase permit card is ordinarily required. It’s also generally illegal to import said ammunition into NJ as well.