Woodlands Toasts Liquor License Renewal 
The Night Spot Will Receive A Warning From The State To Address The Problem Of 
Fights And Assaults

2 Men Accused Of $600 Million Bank Scheme 
Named Are Theodore Graino, 
70, Who Listed His Address As East 
Diamond Avenue, Hazleton, And 
Wilbur Arthur Stile, 54, Of Harrisburg

By MELISSA DONOVAN; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Wednesday, January 29, 1997 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





SCRANTON -- A Wilkes-Barre man with ties to a white supremacist group
turned rifles into machine guns and traded them for marijuana, U.S. Attorney
David M. Barasch said in a press release Tuesday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 William R. Jenkins, 37, of 120 Waller St., is accused of illegally altering
the guns in his furniture refinishing shop on Waller Street, in an grand jury
indictment filed Tuesday in federal court in Scranton. He faces 11 counts of
firearm and drug charges that could result in a life prison sentence. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From 1987 to 1994, Jenkins was part of an interstate drug trafficking
operation between Pennsylvania and Arizona linked to the Aryan Brotherhood, a
white supremacist organization, and the Dirty Dozen, a motorcycle gang,
Barasch said in a press release. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Barasch could not be reached for comment and the 18-page indictment does
not mention either organization. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Jenkins served time for second degree murder in Arizona, where both groups
have operated in the state's prisons. In April, The Arizona Daily Star
reported that members of both organizations were among 35 people arrested on
drugs and weapons charges in an investigation of prisons. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Aryan Brotherhood was founded in the San Quentin, Calif. prison in 1967
and mainly operates behind bars, according to a World Wide Web site operated
by the South Eastern Connecticut Gang Activities Group, a non-profit group
that tracks gangs. Members, who are said to gain admission by killing someone
targeted by the group, concentrate on drug trafficking. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 According to the indictment, Jenkins lied about his murder conviction,
which bars him from owning guns, to buy two Norinco semi-automatic AK-47 type
assault rifles from a Frackville firearms dealer in 1992. Over the next four
years, one or more other people, not named in the indictment, obtained more
than a dozen Norinco rifles on Jenkins' behalf in Scranton and Frackville. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Jenkins' paid one person $1,000 for buying 10 rifles at a Scranton firearms
show on Feb. 29, 1992, the indictment said. Jenkins then converted the rifles
into machine guns at his furniture shop and tested the guns to make sure they
functioned as automatics, the indictment said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In their original condition, the Chinese-made Norinco NHM 90 rifles listed
in the indictment fire approximately 25 bullets in 10 seconds, said an area
firearms dealer who asked not to be named. After being converted into a
machine gun, it can fire 100 shots in 10 seconds, he said. The simple
conversion can be done in one hour, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In August 1992, an unidentified person traveled to Arizona to deliver seven
machine guns as payment for marijuana mailed to a post office box, the
indictment said. In another exchange several weeks later, Jenkins mailed
$7,000 to Tucson and received an express mail package of 11 pounds of
marijuana at a Canadensis, Pa., mail box, the indictment said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Jenkins was arrested Jan. 15 after agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms searched his house. The indictment lists charges of: two counts
of conspiracy, distribution of controlled substances, using and carrying
firearms in connection with drug trafficking, interstate travel in aid of
racketeering, transportation of machine guns in interstate commerce, false
statements in connection with the acquisition of firearms, possession of
firearms by a convicted felon, possession of machine guns, unlawful transfer
of machine guns and possession of a firearm without a serial number. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Jenkins is being held at Lackawanna County Correctional Facility without
bail. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 His father, William R. Jenkins, 78, of Dallas, said his son is innocent. "I
don't believe he was involved in any of that." The ATF didn't find drugs or
firearms in the search of his son's home, the elder Jenkins said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "They didn't find no guns," he said. "They didn't find no drugs. They
didn't find nothing even though they had a dog down there sniffing for drugs
and they didn't find anything. I don't know why they arrested him," Jenkins
said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 His son is also innocent of second degree murder, which sent him to prison
for approximately four years in the late 1970s, the father said. His son "took
the blame" for two co-workers who fatally beat a man who had attacked them
earlier in the night as they and Jenkins left a bar, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Jenkins' lawyer, Geno Bartolai of Pittston, did not return messages left on
his answering machine. A woman who answered the phone at Furniture Stripping
by George identified herself as Jenkins' wife but declined to comment and
refused to give her name. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

City Man Indicted In Machine Gun, Drugs Conspiracy 
Furniture Refinishing Shop 
Owner William R. Jenkins, 37, 
Linked To White Supremecist Group, Says Grand Jury

City Man Indicted In Machine Gun, Drugs Conspiracy Furniture Refinishing Shop Owner William R. Jenkins, 37, Linked To White Supremecist Group, Says Grand Jury