The group was founded in June 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro, who uses the pseudonyms Norman Spear and Roman Wolf. Nazzaro is an owner of the Omega Solutions International LLC security contracting company, a white supremacist and a supporter of the Northwest Territorial Imperative, which proposes the creation of "a separatist ethnostate in the Pacific north-west". Married to a Russian citizen, Nazzaro resides in Saint Petersburg, Russia, according to BBC News; an apartment in the city was purchased in his wife's name in July 2018, the same month the FBI says The Base was founded. A video posted online in May 2019 shows Nazarro, apparently in Russia, wearing a t-shirt with an image ofPresident Vladimir Putin and the words "Russia, absolute power". Nazzaro used to work for Federal Bureau of Investigation as an analyst and as a contractor for the Pentagon.
Richard Tobin and The Base have been linked to synagogue vandalism in Racine, Wisconsin, and Hancock, Michigan, which occurred a day apart in September 2019. Court documents allege Tobin organized the vandalism, then named two members of The Base who actually vandalized the synagogues. Tobin called the event "Operation Kristallnacht".
On 16 January 2020, three members of The Base were arrested by the FBI, just days before a gun rightsprotest was scheduled to be held at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia. The FBI had them under surveillance for several months and had set up CCTV cameras inside the group's apartment to observe their members and to prevent them from causing any harm. According to FBI documents, the three members were discussing "the planning of violence at a specific event in Virginia, scheduled for January 20, 2020." CBS Baltimore reported that the trio were indicted for illicit activities.
Patrik Mathews
master corporal Patrik Mathews was identified as one of the three arrested. Earlier, on 16 August 2019, Mathews had been outed as organizing a terrorist cell for The Base and Atomwaffen in Manitoba via undercover reporting by the Winnipeg Free Press. He was also described as putting up posters to "intimidate and threaten local anti-fascist activists." Other posters in Manitoba stated "Save your Race, Join The Base" and "The Base: Learn Train Fight" and began appearing in July. Vice News also discovered he had participated in a training camp in the U.S. state of Georgia. While not charging him, the RCMP searched his Beausejour, Manitoba, home on August 19 and seized guns. The military had been alerted about Mathews in April and launched an investigation in July. By August 24, he had gone missing and was reported as being voluntarily released from the Forces. Mathews' truck was found near the border in Piney, Manitoba, and it was assumed he had entered the United States illegally. It is possible Mathews was assisted by a Minnesota cell of The Base. Mathews was arrested in Maryland by the FBI in January 2020 along with two associates, Brian M. Lemley Jr., 33, and William G. Bilbrough IV, 19. The men are accused of building assault rifles and manufacturing DMT. They face a maximum sentence of 10 years for firearm offenses, including transporting a machine gun.
