Mr. Alamo presently has the ability to have the body produced.. [20], Alamo died on May 2, 2017, while he was in custody at the Federal Medical Center, Butner in Butner, North Carolina. I took care of his business. Some days are easier than others.. Tony Alamo (born Bernie Lazar Hoffman; September 20, 1934) is an American religious leader and convicted child sex offender.He and his late wife Susan are best known as the founders of an organization currently known as Tony Alamo Christian Ministries.The organization is based in and around Fouke and Alma, Arkansas, United States, and has been referred to as a cult. Lydia Unofficial wife of Tony Alamo. Tony Alamo was a well-known evangelist who, after a radical conversion to Christianity, founded what is now called Tony Alamo Christian Ministries with his wife, Susan, later establishing its headquarters in Dyer (Crawford County). Tony Alamo (19342017) was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman to a Jewish family. He was convicted on July 4, 2009. Tony Alamo (1934-2017), American founder of the Alamo Christian Foundation Antonio Alamo, Jr., known as Tony Alamo, American physician and Nevada gaming official This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. In 1966, Tony was arrested on a gun charge, a felony for which he served jail time. He left me with all the bills, she said. But Ill get the kids, and theyll be all right. Welsh, Adam. Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as anti-LGBT hate groups, "Tony Alamo, Apocalyptic Ministry Leader Convicted of Sex Abuse, Dies at 82", "Christian Cult Leader and Child Sex Abuser Tony Alamo Dies in Federal Custody". Although Alamo was unable to bring his wife back to life, he intends to keep the controversy over her body alive in court, according to Coie and one of her lawyers, Asa Hutchinson of Ft. Smith. At the time, Susan was married to Coies late father, Solomon Samuel Lipowitz, whom she described as a good man and a prizefighter who was also a mobster. Offers may be subject to change without notice. His age is 88Years. But last month Spears concluded after a weeklong trial that Mr. What were they doing in New Orleans?. Mrs. Alamo, 33, a soft-spoken woman whose second child is due to be born Tuesday, said she expected the raid, if not Friday then someday. Original Design by Gurpartap Singh, Eye Witness & First Hand Accounts of Abuse. ET) on Investigation Discovery. You know, what gets me about this is [my mother] made him a multimillionaire many times over, Coie said. The children are brainwashed, but they will be OK, said Amrhein, who is involved in a bitter custody fight with his former wife, Elizabeth Amrhein-Alamo, who claims to have married, Tony Alamo, the Alma-based evangelist and has been living at his Dyer home with her children. [11] The church's projects included Nashville's largest country and western clothing store. Alamo, 74, faces up to 175 years in prison, plus fines that could total $2.5 million. March 1, 2023 3:00am. When Bernie LaZar Hoffman was born on Sept. 30, 1934, in Joplin, Missouri, he wasn't born into a particularly religious household. This is so perverse.. Sadly, there are many more under age children that were forced by Alamo to be another one of his wives. If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. The two immediately clicked, having much in common from midwestern, Jewish roots to a talent for showmanship and within months, Susan converted Bernie/Mark to hard-core Protestantism. The other children (Tabor and Antoinette) were conceived during Alamo and Kroopfs marriage and the biological mothers (Lydia Willis and Elizabeth Mercado) are in the group and currently living with (or near) Alamo. For Tony to say he beat out Julio as an entertainer of the year is completely crazy. Gyllenhammar was referring to Alamos claim that the American D.J. Were free! Alamo to Return Body of Wife after 7 Years. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,July 24, 1998, pp. The Daughters Tale: Anti-Catholic Cult Leaders Child Recounts Abuse. Intelligence Report, Spring 2008. DEAR ABBY: I am in love with my best . Alamo denies it. As the church expanded, it established other churches in Nashville, Chicago, Brooklyn, and Miami Beach. Its putting closure to it, finally, said Alamos stepdaughter, Christhiaon Coie of Reseda, who sued Alamo literally over her mothers dead body and for whom the legal decision represents a symbolic burial of her mothers and her tortured past. The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. On September 25, 2008, Alamo himself was arrested in Flagstaff, Arizona, on a federal warrant charging him with violating the Mann Act, a federal statute enacted to stop the trafficking of women or girls across state lines, over a period from March 1994 through October 2005. History: In Arkansas in January 1994, Elizabeth Mercado (aka Lizzy Gutierrez) became Tonys wife. Alamo Christian Ministries: Is He a Prophet, Promoter, or Profiteer? Los Angeles Times. She said last week that the financial award from her suit against Alamo, if it comes through, might see her daughters through college, or help pay her lawyer Charles Karr, whom she credited with sticking by her throughout the bizarre body case.. After both he and Susan converted to Christianity, they established the Music Square Church and began a Hollywood street ministry, passing out religious tracts and preaching especially to drug addicts, alcoholics, and prostitutes. Saying he appreciated the articles about Alamo, Amrhein insisted, Ill keep the kids. Millions Awarded to 7 Tied to Alamo. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 28, 2014, p. 4B. His father was a poor immigrant from Romania who settled the family near Joplin, Missouri in the 1920s. She later claimed her husband beat and drugged her and demanded she undergo plastic surgery to make her look like Susan. With the labor of their followers, the Alamos turned their church into a hefty financial empire, even as many members had to scavenge food from supermarket dumpsters and were forbidden from flushing the toilets more than every two or three days. She threw Alamo out of her Los Angeles home last fall after he broke a 200 year old statue. I was at a party not long ago with Julio Iglesias and Elizabeth Taylor. He eventually moved his headquarters to Arkansas with his wife, Susan, where he held secret ceremonies at his compound to authorize his marriage to girls as young as 15-years-old. Tony spent the last 20 years in and out of prison, pioneered conspiracy talk radio, and built an empire that couldnt withstand the lust and greed of its creator. Her name was Susan (born Edith Opal Horn) Lipowitz, nine years his senior. From his cell at the federal maximum-security prison in Florence, Colo., Alamo has not only filed an appeal of Spears ruling but also is seeking a new trial without Spears as its judge. Angela Marie Morales Unofficial wife of Tony Alamo Says Randall Harris, a retired FBI agent who investigated the case: The world revolved around Tony Alamo.. She was arrested as she went to pick up her passport. Pebbles, now 32, and Amy, 34, are sharing their story, which is also featured in the premiere episode of People Magazine Investigates: Cults, airing June 4 on Investigation Discovery. Beginning in the 1960s in California, erstwhile music producer Tony Alamo became interested in authoritarian religion and, along with his charismatic wife, Susan, began gathering followers. Ill get my children back, said Nick Amrhein of Huntington, West VA. Her body was taken to the foundation's compound on a ridge overlooking the town of Dyer, Arkansas, where Susan Alamo was born as Edith . Hughes, Dave. In 1976, a few unhappy followers reported him to the U.S. Department of Labor, who investigated. Her name was Brigitta Gyllenhammer, and she lasted two years before divorcing him. The next raid wouldnt just be the feds and it wouldnt be a pesky tax problem. On September 20, 2008, state and federal officials raided Alamos Fouke (Miller County)compound as part of a two-year investigation into allegations of child abuse and child pornography. Meanwhile, lawsuits filed by former church members accused the couple of controlling their flock with intimidation and beatings. McNeil, Betsy. Both women still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, where seemingly normal activities can sometimes trigger panic attacks and feelings of fear and loneliness. Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. He is very talented. The Alamo Christian Foundation last year lost its status as a tax-exempt religious organization and is now treated as a for-profit group by the IRS. As young girls, Amy Eddy and her best friend, Pebbles Rodriguez, did not have any control of their lives. The total number of wives he has accumulated is unclear, to be sure. They made a record together, and they cant sing. The court concluded Alamo also owed another $5 million to ex-members for unpaid labor. He keeps his life private but we will mention it as we found. Tony was found guilty of 10 charges of transporting minor females across state borders for sex after being brought to court and sentenced to 175 years in prison in 2009. In 1975, the Alamos purchased land in Dyer, near Alma, and there established the main branch of the Music Square Church, which later was called the Holy Alamo Christian Church Consecrated before its present name was adopted. In September 1994, Alamo was sentenced by the Federal District Court for the Western District of Tennessee to six years in the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, Texas. http://www.alamoministries.com/ (accessed February 23, 2023). Alamo had not been issuing checks to his employees and offered only the most menial financial recompense, leading some disgruntled followers to begin reporting his activities. He claimed that he recorded a hit record single in the early 1960s, Little Yankee Girl, and that he was asked to manage musical acts including the Beatles, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones. Like a cheap carnival act, Coie recalled last week, he kept it on display in an open casket, telling church followers that Susan Alamo would rise from the dead. They have a son, Tabor, together. Alamo was living at the time in Tampa, Fla., a fugitive from charges that he had ordered the beating of an 11-year-old church member at the Saugus commune. It was her second marriage. . Alamo went on to own a health club and work in the music industry. (AP) Amy Eddy and Pebbles Rodriguez are speaking out about how they were controlled by apocalyptic cult leader Tony Alamo in an upcoming documentary. He was heard on over a dozen radio stations in the U.S. and more in Africa, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Williams, John. Sunday October 1, 1995 Alamo Christian Ministries, Tony Alamo. Her name was Brigitta Gyllenhammer, and she lasted two years before divorcing him. 72201. An assistant called back and said Alamo had divorced Gyllenhammar but would not say where. She had just turned 16 years old. 2023 Encyclopedia of Arkansas. The IRS Commissioner found that "MSC was so closely operated and controlled by and for the benefit of Tony Alamo that it enjoyed no substantive independent existence; that MSC was formed and operated by Tony Alamo for the principal purpose of willfully attempting to defeat or evade federal income tax; and that MSC was inseparable from Tony Alamo, and failed to operate for exclusively charitable purposes. History: In 1989 Alamo married Sharon Kroopf (now Sharon Miriam Hoffman), in her late 30s at the time. He lost, and would soon lose his tax-exempt status as the lawsuits piled up and dragged on through the 1980s. They say they were planning a honeymoon cruise for later, Amrhein said. He kept the presses at his print shop running day and night, churning out literature about Satanic conspiracy theories perpetrated against him and the church. He accused me of having an ungodly statue of a man and a woman. Lydia and Tabor are no longer in associated with the group or Tony Alamo. The Arkansas compound had much in common with Jonestown, the South American outpost run by Jim Jones that resulted in 909 deaths by cyanide poisoning on Nov. 18, 1978. But she died a hard death and what she did is between her and God, and what hes done is so apart from anything human, anything decent. It also operated a drug rehabilitation facility, and those who were involved in the church developed several businesses in the Alma area. Following Susans death, rumors spread that he had taken two fifteen-year-old girls as wives. On June 23, 1984, he married Swedish native Birgitta Gyllenhammar in Las Vegas, Nevada, though this marriage ended two years later; she later claimed that Alamo wanted her to have plastic surgery to look like Susan and that he regularly beat and drugged her. [4], After divorcing their respective spouses, Horn and Hoffman married in a 1966 Las Vegas ceremony, legally changing their names to Tony Alamo and Susan Alamo. Alamo is the president of the Alama-based Alamo Christian Foundation. The case of the boys went before U.S. District Judge Morris Arnold, who ruled that child abuse had taken place and awarded damages to the plaintiffs. Communal living was a staple of the Music Square Church. ___ On December 2, 2010, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld his conviction and sentence. But Coie said she believes the dark-haired preacher did it because he knows no bounds of decency, because he could use her [Susan Alamo] two times around like a marionette to control [their followers].. Alamo was convicted in 2009 on 10 counts for taking young girls, including a 9-year-old, across Arkansas state lines to have sex with them, the AP reports. He's a convicted tax evader and a flamboyant evangelist who once ran what authorities called a multimillion-dollar, Saugus-based cult. Even so, why werent my children in school last week? The Barely Legal Empire of Tony Alamo. Village Voice, May 13, 2008. (Listed if other than Religion News Blog, or if not shown above), Leslie Berger, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 1, 1995, http://www.latimes.com, cults use a method that experts now refer to as coercive control an act, Updated Israeli police have arrested man whom they suspect of leading a violent cult community, The upcoming trials of the last three Aum Shinrikyo cult members will inevitably revisit the, The Cult Information Centre, a UK charity that warns people of the dangers of cults,, 'Fatal Attraction' star Glenn Close has told New York Magazine that she was well-equipped for, After 25 years in operation, the Cult Information Centre in England fears it may no, A panel of academics and professionals from Israel's Ministry of Welfare and Social Services will, South Australia's chief prosecutor is calling for new laws to thwart the rise of cults. : //www.alamoministries.com/ ( accessed February 23, 2023 ) ] made him a multimillionaire many times over Coie... 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