Notorious neo-Nazi, 33, is finally caught after global manhunt as cops bust him in Romanian gym three years after he sucker-punched a cop at far-right rally and incited violence at Charlottesville riots
The founder of a California-based neo-Nazi group was arrested this week
Robert Rundo had been on the run in Eastern Europe for three years
Rundo is accused of assaulting a police officer and attending the infamous 2017 Charlottesville Unite The Right rally
The leader of a bloodthirsty Southern California based neo-Nazi group was finally apprehended inside of a Romanian gym, three years after he went on the lam following his indictment on various charges including assaulting a police officer.
Watch the video below
Robert Rundo, 33, was arrested in Bucharest on March 29 by police special forces when a tipster contacted the authorities.
Rundo is the founder of a group named RAM, which stands for Rise Above Movement. In addition to racist activities, its members are also passionate practitioners of MMA. The group has anywhere between 20 and 50 members.
Officials in Romania said that when he was arrested, Rundo was carrying papers that identified him as Robert Lazar Pavic. It isn't known for how long he has been in the eastern European country.
In the wake of the arrest, US authorities have issued an extradition request to their Romanian counterparts. Between 2016 and 2018, Rundo is thought to have been omnipresent at various political rallies, often physically clashing with enemies and law enforcement.
Rise Above Movement founder Robert Rundo, 28, pictured inside of a Romanian gym shortly after he was taken into custody
Rundo pictured being dragged out of a Romanian gym on Wednesday
Rundo will face a hearing on April 25. He is accused by authorities in Europe of spreading white-supremacist ideology in countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary, reports Romanian news station Digi24.
'The suspect is said to be one of the founders of an organization that supports the ideology of white supremacy, which has publicly presented itself as a group ready to fight, campaigning for a new nationalist movement of white supremacy and identity,' a statement from police said, according to Radio Free Europe.
Members of RAM attended the infamous 2017 Charlottesville Unite The Right rally which led to the death of Heather Heyer.
After initial charges against him were dismissed in 2019, Rundo is thought to have left the United States.
A federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed the charges on the grounds that the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 was unconstitutional.
Judge Cormac Carney said someone could be convicted under the act simply for texting friends about meeting at a political rally, and added that even those with a 'hateful and toxic ideology' were protected by the First Amendment.
He had been indicted on charges of 'traveling to political rallies across California, where they violently attacked counter-protesters, journalists and a police officer,' the Department of Justice said in a press release at the time.
Rundo pictured being detained in Berkeley, California in 2017
Videos showed Rundo punching counter-protesters in Huntington Beach and a police officer in Berkeley, according to an FBI affidavit.
Prosecutors described RAM as a 'a combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.'
In January 2023, Rundo was indicted again, which led to his recent arrest.
Radio Free Europe reports that in a September 2020 interview on a neo-Nazi podcast, Rundo said he left the US due to what he called 'harassment' from authorities.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, Rise Above Movement members believe they are fighting against a 'modern world' corrupted by the 'destructive cultural influences' of liberals, Jews, Muslims and non-white immigrants.
Members refer to themselves as the mixed martial arts club of the 'alt-right' fringe movement, a loose mix of neo-Nazis, white nationalists and other far-right extremists.
Watch the incident video below
The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group and three other members were arrested weeks after indictments of other group members for allegedly inciting the riot in Charlottesville, pictured.
One woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when a car plowed into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia,
They very much operate like a street-fighting club,' Oren Segal, director of the ADL's Center on Extremism, said earlier this month. The group has roots in the racist skinhead movement in Southern California, Segal said.
In August 2017, Rundo and his cohorts made their way to the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville with their hands taped, 'ready to do street battle,' U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen said at a news conference announcing the charges in 2018.
Hundreds of white nationalists descended on Charlottesville in part to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Clashes erupted August 11 as a crowd of white nationalists marching through the University of Virginia campus carrying torches and chanting racist slogans encountered a small group of counter-protesters.
The next day, more violence broke out between counter-protesters and attendees of the 'Unite the Right' rally, which was believed to be the largest gathering of white nationalists in at least a decade.
Street fighting exploded before the scheduled event could begin and went on for nearly an hour in view of police until authorities forced the crowd to disperse.
After authorities forced the rally to disband August 12, Heyer, 32, was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters.
The death toll rose to three when a state police helicopter that had been monitoring the event crashed, killing two troopers.
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