T j leyden biography

T.J.

CONFESSIONS OF A SKINHEAD – Chicago Tribune

Leyden,

to hear him tell it, seemed like a pretty normal fella: a redhead with freckles, an Irish Catholic altar boy who joined the Marines, saw the world, started his own business, took clients golfing, married and had two sons, one of them with red hair and freckles too.

It was lovely and normal except for Leyden’s 29 neo-Nazi tattoos, half a lifetime of racist recruiting and a criminal history of raging violence toward blacks, Hispanics, Jews and gays–among others.

To Leyden and his fellow skinheads, it was considered sport to kick these people until blood poured out of their mouths and they hugged their knees to fend off another kick in the ribs from a steel-toed boot.

“I’d beat the living crap out of people.

I’d put people in the hospital. … I stabbed three people in my lifetime,” Leyden related matter-of-factly.

T.J. Leyden’s life story is spell-binding. When he tells it, to virtually any group, any church, club or bus T.J. LEYDEN is a former skinhead who now works for the ... - NPR QETY