Summary: Since we first exposed Paul Michael Gancarz as a member of Patriot Front, he has stayed active within the racist organization. This article gives updates on his recent activity and reveals that Gancarz and another Patriot Front member, Ian Michael Elliott, compete in the Jiu Jitsu world as a barely-disguised Patriot Front team. FUJI BJJ must kick out the fascist “Patria Gloria” team – see our action items at the end for details.
On January 20th, 2022, NYC Antifa, in collaboration with Antifa Seven Hills, exposed Paul Michael Gancarz as a fascist and Patriot Front’s “Network Director” for the region covering Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, and Delaware. Gancarz is originally from New York City. He continues to have strong ties to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where his family lives. At the time of our original article, Gancarz was living in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He still likely lives in that state.
Paul Gancarz’s involvement in Far-Right politics goes back years and well beyond Patriot Front. On August 12, 2017, he attended the deadly white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia as a Proud Boy. In December 2019, Gancarz and Proud Boy member Simon Ming Yui Lee (AKA Simon “Lee Greenwood”) scrawled swastikas outside of a Greenpoint, Brooklyn restaurant. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Please see our original article for a full accounting of Gancarz’s activities.
Almost immediately after we released our article on Gancarz, Unicorn Riot leaked the contents of Patriot Front’s chat servers. This data leak corroborated our research. In his capacity as Network Director, Gancarz would have been directly involved or consulted on high-profile vandalism in his network. One such act of vandalism, the defacement of the Arthur Ashe mural in Richmond, Virginia, resulted in him being named in a lawsuit in October 2022, for conspiracy to violate civil rights under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, as well as intimidation based on racial animosity under Virginia state law. Patriot Front’s leader, Thomas Rousseau; two other named members, Nathan Noyce and Thomas Dail; as well as 23 John Does were also named in the suit.
Gancarz continues to be an active member of Patriot Front—participating in various Patriot Front flash mobs and carrying out banner drops, placing stickers, and so on. Notably, on January 19-20, 2024, Gancarz appeared with Patriot Front in Washington DC for the anti-choice “March for Life” and in New York City, at a brisk in-and-out flash mob in a cold and empty lower Manhattan.
Boston, Massachusetts. July 2022.
Boston, Massachusetts. April 2023.
Richmond, Virginia. Posted on Telegram in Jan 2024
Washington DC and New York City. Jan 19-20, 2024.
Since our original exposé of Gancarz, he lost his lucrative job as an engineer on a critical infrastructure project for the state of Virginia and was booted from his BJJ gym where he was training for competitions. Gancarz now tries to stay anonymous online and in his personal life. Because there is an ongoing civil rights lawsuit against him, we’ve noticed that he has returned to masking at Patriot Front actions and other events. Patriot Front blurs his face when they release images of their events.
Paul Michael Gancarz and Ian Michael Elliott
Patriot Front promotes martial arts training and fighting skills within its membership and aligns itself with other fascist projects, such as Rob Rundo’s “Active Clubs.” These Active Clubs combine fascist indoctrination, networking, martial arts, and propaganda into a lifestyle and a brand. Rundo is currently in Federal prison, awaiting trial on charges stemming from his involvement in two violent confrontations in California from 2017, as well as recruiting and training racists for violence in those same incidents. Paul Gancarz has extensive links with Rundo’s Active Clubs network and was training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) at the time of our original exposé.
Patriot Front has allowed Gancarz to network with other fascists and meet others with similar hateful beliefs. One Patriot Front member Gancarz spends time with is Ian Michael Elliott, a neo-Nazi combat instructor and Patriot Front member from Alabama (although he may be living elsewhere these days). Elliott was exposed by Atlanta Antifascists, who noted: “[Elliott] spends most of his time ‘traveling, and training, with White Nationalists’” and that by “sharing his martial arts skills with racist associates, Elliott helps white supremacists prepare for violence against their enemies.” Gancarz and Elliott were pictured together in a January 2024 post on a Rob Rundo/Active Club affiliated Telegram channel, holding a Patriot Front flag and wearing medals from a FUJI BJJ tournament.
This photo quickly led to the discovery of Ian Elliott on FUJI’s Facebook page, showing that he won at the FUJI Allentown Winter Championships and that he is now going by his first and middle names, “Ian Michael,” representing a gym called “Patria Gloria.” The light posts in the Telegram photo with Gancarz and Elliott match the ones outside of the Winter Championships venue.
“Patria Gloria” is a label of convenience for Patriot Front when competing in mainstream martial arts competitions. The team’s listing shows two members—which leads us to Gancarz, who is also going by his first and middle names, “Paul Michael,” to avoid detection. Patria Gloria’s location is listed as Virginia Beach, where Gancarz is known to have lived, and the phone number is one long associated with him. Patria Gloria is listed as having competed at the Allentown Winter Championships.
After our initial article, as well as mainstream media pieces that came out after the Unicorn Riot leaks, Gancarz’s gym in Virginia Beach cut ties with him after realizing his fascist organizing, which included attending “Unite the Right” where Heather Heyer was killed. Ian Elliott was also dumped from his gym after the Atlanta Antifascists’ article, and the school stripped him of his rank. These two fascists have gone to great lengths to conceal their identities and avoid detection. However, there will always be consequences for continued fascist organizing. 🙂
Action Items
As we promised, now that we have new information, we have new action items!
1. Please respectfully contact FUJI BJJ and ask them to sever all ties with Paul Michael Gancarz and Ian Michael Elliott, as well as Patria Gloria. Ask that they be stripped of any medals conferred upon them.
As of January 2024, FUJI BJJ is under new ownership. They state they want a “fresh rebrand” and to “bring Jiu Jitsu to as many people as possible.” There is nothing fresher than kicking fascists and racists out of your spaces and nothing better to bring people into a sport than to make sure your events are fascist-free.
Contact
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FUJIBJJ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fujibjj/
Email: info@fujibjj.com
Contact page on website: https://fujibjj.com/
2. If you are involved in BJJ, make sure your gyms, academies, and competitions know that fascists like Paul Gancarz (“Paul Michael”) and Ian Elliott (“Ian Michael”) are not welcome. If you live in New York City, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee, make sure that these fascist scum aren’t training alongside you.
3. If you interacted with Paul Gancarz and Ian Elliott at a gym, competition, or anywhere else, and have some info, drop us a line! All tips will remain anonymous! nycantifa [at] riseup [dot] net
NYC Antifa 