MEET THE KILLER NEO-NAZI MASSEUSE AND HIS SAX-PLAYING ARMY RESERVIST TRADWIFE
May 28, 2024 by SOUTHWEST RESEARCH CLUB
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On June 6, 2006, in the Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek, David Ryan Drake (DOB: 09/09/1987) arrived at a “666 party.” Drake was wearing his new uniform: steel-toed boots, a long-sleeve khaki shirt with a swastika armband, a patch taped on that read “NSM” and a six-inch blade. He was representing the National Socialist Movement, successor to the American Nazi Party and at the time the largest neo-Nazi organizations in the United States.
NEO-NAZI WHO KILLED LATINO TEEN IDENTIFIED: DAVID RYAN DRAKE
Also at the party was David Michael Scarano, an 18-year-old with Mexican, Native American and Italian heritage. He was unarmed.
Witnesses would later comment that Scarano had mocked Drake for wearing his NSM uniform and a fight ensued. After Drake’s patch fell off, Scarano stepped on it, a move that a police investigator later explained had sent the neo-Nazi over the edge. Witnesses, and a 911 dispatcher, would soon hear Drake refer to Scarano as a “fucking half-spic motherfucker,” before driving his blade into Scarano’s abdomen, severing his lower aorta artery, killing him.
Drake was unremorseful. Only days after being incarcerated, he was attempting to make contact with an NSM lead and making requests for a new NSM uniform.
“I can live with what I’ve done,” Drake said in a recorded rant over the jail telephone disparaging the murder victim. “Don’t feel sorry for him.”
Months later, he began “requesting racial and violent lyrics be sent to him,” including Johnny Rebel’s “Stay Away From Dixie,” a slur-filled song telling Black people to leave the South.
The prosecutors requested a sentence of 16 years, citing the racist motivations behind the stabbing and Drake’s admitted affiliation with the NSM.
Scarano’s father wrote to the judge: “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t shed a tear. I cannot put into words what I’m going through. It’s like a twilight zone. I feel empty.”
On January 17, 2007 a jury found Drake guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to nine years and released on May 28, 2015.
18 YEARS LATER: NEW NAME, NEW WIFE, NEW HATE GROUPS
Five years after leaving prison, on October 10, 2020, David Ryan Drake would legally change his name to Ryan Aleksander Drago. By that time, he had already been licensed as a masseuse for two years under the Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy. (#MT-24457).
Since at least October 2022, Drago has been listed as a massage therapist for Simply Divine Massage in another Phoenix suburb called Surprise. Drago’s business card with Simply Divine Massage can also be seen in a photo posted under their Google Reviews last year. As of writing this article, Drago is currently featured under the name “Aleksander Ryan” on their home page.
Is the new name and career path a sign that Drago has left the life of neo-Nazism behind him? Far from it. Drago has maintained a relationship in the white power movement and expanded his affiliations to the current Active Club scene, Patriot Front, Asatru Folk Assembly and multiple offshoots.In addition, he has also married a woman who herself is active in the neo-Nazi scene and who is a member of the Arizona National Guard, plays saxophone in the 108th Army Band and teaches the instrument at a high school in the Phoenix area.
On May 25, 2021 Drago legally married Ashley June Krogstad. That November, Drago and Krogstad would hold an outdoor “handfasting” wedding ceremony that was “officiated” by Joseph Rozanek, an organizer and “gothi” with the whites-only Asatru Folk Assembly. Wedding guests would include other members of the neo-Völkisch hate group, an organization that blends a distorted version of paganism with white supremacy.
The Dragos began appearing in photos at Asatru Folk Assembly meetups (“moots”) in 2022 in Arizona. Photos show the couple were regularly joined alongside local Asatru Folk Assembly organizers Lyubomir “Lou” Nickerson, American Third Position leader Ralph Brandt and Samuel Breckenridge Ramsey, a Tucson neo-Nazi with a violent criminal record.
At one meetup, Ryan Drago appears alongside the Asatru Folk Assembly Arizona faction in a shirt reading “RWDS,” an acronym for “right wing death squad.”
The pseudo-religious Asatru Folk Assembly has been exposed in the past for its extensive overlap with the neo-Nazi movement.
In November 2020, Antifa Sacramento identified one of Asatru Folk Assembly’s top organizers internationally, Marc MacLeod, as an associate of numerous California neo-Nazi groups. In 2019, Atlanta Antifascists revealed the identity of two white supremacists leading the Asatru Folk Assembly-affiliated “Ravensblood Kindred,” including a Haralson County, Georgia jailer and a member of the Georgia National Guard.
The white separatist hate group has been thoroughly condemned by 180 inclusive pagan organizations for bastardizing paganism as a means to preach racism and white supremacy.
In the summer of 2023, Ramsey, who once held the title of Arizona “folkbuilder,” and the Dragos broke away to join the newly formed Raven Folk United, founded by former Golden States Skinheads lead Michael Sessumes. Ramsey was quickly named as part of Raven Folk United’s leadership.
The first meetup under the new Raven Folk United included Sessumes, Ramsey and the Dragos. Others in attendance included former Asatru Folk Assembly members Ashley Stockton, Josh Rapin (also a member of the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe), Shea McCurdy and Shade McCurdy.
The offshoot sect also claims Ron McVan, the white supremacist author who worked alongside neo-Nazi domestic terrorist David Lane, as a member.
Similar to Asatru Folk Assembly, Raven Folk United preaches anti-race mixing and prohibits non-white members. However, violence is also a key stated component of Raven Folk United’s belief system. The organization demands that members remain loyal and strictly adhere to its rules or else face repercussions. As part of its so-called “Raven’s Laws,” the group explicitly tells members to “let no man be beyond reproach or acts of violence if his words or deeds are deserving.”
The organization also adheres to an obscure code of ethics, called the “Aesirian Code of Nine,” which has its roots in neo-Nazism. The ninth and final rule of the code is titled “Conflict,” which reads in full:
“Those who follow the way of the warrior must know the art of combat, weapons and vengeance. War is an accepted part of the path. Always be prepared for hostility against you. It is a destiny woven into the very fiber of our people. Keep your body, mind, and training up at all times. Have no remorse when you must be savage during a conflict.”
More images of the Dragos are scattered across Raven Folk United’s website and social media, including the “About” page.
In between work and white supremacist moots, Ryan Drago has also spent his time out of prison as a member of Tribal Active Club Arizona (TAC-AZ).
Active Clubs are a decentralized network of neo-Nazi fight clubs originating from the now-defunct Rise Above Movement. Active Clubs, including TAC-AZ, engage in MMA-style training exercises to prepare for political street violence and what they see as an impending race war.
Active clubs also ritually litter cities with their propaganda. TAC-AZ shared videos of members, including Ryan Drago, vandalizing park signs and neighborhood poles with stickers promoting themselves, other Active Clubs, Patriot Front, White Lives Matter, and white supremacist propaganda outlet Media2Rise.
“FREE ROB RUNDO,” read one homemade TAC-AZ sticker in reference to the violent founder of the Rise Above Movement.
“End Jewish Supremacy,” read another.
TAC-AZ and Arizona Raven Folk United members also meet alongside Tribal Arya Society, which is described as TAC-AZ’s parent organization meant for white supremacists who are women or men who are older and less engaged in Active Club sparring.
Tribal Arya Society meetups can range from trips to local European-specific cultural festivals to swastika burnings for the anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birthday. At one gathering, members of Tribal Arya Society and TAC-AZ were joined by Wayne Peloquin of the neo-Nazi metal band Bound for Glory.
A Tribal Arya Society video titled “A Wholesome Bachelor Party” dated October 30, 2022 (a couple weeks before Drago and Krogstad’s handfasting ceremony) showed off a feast of pretzels, beer, brats and a cake decorated with pecans in the shape of a swastika.
In February, TAC-AZ and Tribal Arya Society helped to organize “HyperboreaFest,” a Utah camping trip alongside multiple Patriot Front cells and former Rise Above Movement member Ryan Sanchez, who now lives in Glendale, Arizona. The hike included a bonfire of Pride flags and fliers for a conference on gender identity at the University of Colorado.
The multiple Tribal Arya Society and TAC-AZ Telegram, Gab and Twitter accounts would attempt to obscure the faces of members at these meetups, but several of those same photos were unblurred on Asatru Folk Assembly’s social media.
Ryan Drago was also caught on camera by the Media2Rise crew at the second “Birth of a New Frontier,” a neo-Nazi MMA tournament that brings together Active Club and Patriot Front cells throughout the country. The flag for TAC-AZ hung on the wall of the California event.
Ashley June Drago (nèe Krogstad): Swastikas, Saxophones and Military Service
While Active Clubs are normally exclusive to men, TAC-AZ footage often features a woman working out and dropping racist propaganda alongside the group. The woman also appears in photos and videos on Tribal Arya Society’s social media and two other Telegram accounts: “TheModernTradwife” and “ModernTradwife.”
In multiple posts on those accounts in which the woman’s identity is obscured, she has a similar build, clothing and hairstyle as Ashley June Drago (née Krogstad).
In other posts, however, Ashley Drago could be seen with little to no attempt to hide her identity.
In one video posted by ModernTradwife, Ashley Drago raises up a drinking horn as the text overlaid reads “Embrace Tradition.” This is from a TAC-AZ outing that was censored on their own account.
“Wholesome Midwest childhood” the caption of one photo reads. “First post flashback. ‘Tis yours truly.”
“Anonymous reveal,” reads another image shared to TheModernTradwife. Though her face is censored in this post, the unique wallpaper behind Ashley Drago matches the wallpaper in her husband’s work bio photo.
In a video celebrating Oktoberfest in Tempe, Arizona, the woman is blurred but no attempt was made to obscure Ryan Drago’s face, who has his arm around her.
Based on the Telegram posts, Ashley Drago’s views are no less extreme than her husband’s, expressing a similar devotion to neo-Nazism and white supremacy.
“If we don’t start fighting together as WN [white nationalist] Women and Men being side by side in this jewish brainwashed propaganda then what is the point? We need to work together as a TEAM,” read one post shared on ModernTradwife.
“There is no Folk without you,” read another post shared by TheModernTradwife account featuring the silhouette of a woman holding up a toddler to the backdrop of a sonnenrad — another symbol used by neo-Nazis.
Watermarked with a “hyperborean 1488 worldwide” logo, the ModernTradwife account shared an image reading “DO YOUR PART. BECOME A MOTHER, YOUR RACE NEEDS YOU.”
One video shared by TheModernTradwife quotes the 14-words, a neo-Nazi slogan coined by David Lane.
In one post praising National Socialism and quoting neo-Nazi occultist Savitri Devi, TheModernTradwife posted an AI image of three white women that form an illusion of a swastika.
Professionally, Ashley Drago boasts a far more extensive resume than her killer neo-Nazi husband.
Before moving to Arizona, Krogstad obtained her bachelor of arts from the University of South Dakota (USD) in 2016 before receiving her master of music from Oklahoma State University (OSU). In May 2024, she got her doctorate of musical arts at the University of Arizona (UA). Her thesis was titled “Approaches to Saxophone Tone: A Pedagogical Resource for Teaching.”
In an interview with the UA Saxophone Studio, Ashley Drago said she hopes to “pursue a position teaching saxophone in higher education, perform with a professional chamber group, and maintain a private studio.”
Ashely Drago’s LinkedIn and a resume listed on her website highlights her time as a music camp counselor at USD and as a teaching assistant at UA and OSU. At the 2019 North American Saxophone Alliance Region II Conference, she taught a lecture titled The Allard Approach. The conference program also credits her as the social media coordinator for the UA saxophone studio.
As a longtime saxophonist, Ashley Drago can be spotted in over a dozen performances during her time in college, her teaching career, at Raven Folk United gatherings, in the Arizona-based tribute rock band, Unleashed, and as a member of the U.S. Army Musical Performance Team and the 108th Army Band.
Ashley Drago appears in numerous photos on the 108th Army Band’s instagram and Facebook page, including in an image from her white supremacist “handfasting” wedding ceremony. Her uniform displays her married name: “Drago.”
On February 5, 2024, a post on the 108th Army Band social media announced she had been promoted to sergeant.
During her time in the National Guard, Ashley Drago is credited with performances at the 2023 Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Veteran Employee Recognition Event and the 2024 Arizona Music Educators Association Conference. A photograph also shows her performing saxophone with the Jazz Ambassadors, a premiere, internationally touring orchestra of the U.S. Army.
In 2021, a previously unpublicized Pentagon report highlighted the struggle to keep white supremacists out of the military and how veterans and military personnel are “highly prized” recruits for these hate groups. In 2022, a leak of Patriot Front’s private chats revealed that one in five of their applicants had military experience. According to data by The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, over 200 people with a military background have been charged for their role in the January 6 insurrection.
A video posted to both TheModernTradwife and ModernTradwife shows a woman with similar hairstyle and build as Ashley Drago in a military uniform skipping with a caption reading “I am simultaneously a warrior and a wife…”
Ashley Drago is also listed as the saxophone coach for the Mountain Ridge High School band.
The school is part of the Deer Valley Unified School District, the fifth largest district in Arizona. During the 2022-2023 school year, Mountain Ridge had over 2700 students enrolled and nearly a third were students of color.
The picture Ashley Drago uses on the Mountain Ridge website is from the same series of professional shots she uses on her Music & Arts page, where she is currently available to be booked as an instructor for saxophone, clarinet, oboe and flute lessons at their Scottsdale location. It’s also the same image she uses to promote private music lessons on the white separatist Raven Folk United website under “Folk Businesses & Services.”
“COMPLETE SOCIETAL EXILE”
It’s no surprise David Ryan Drake would change his name to Ryan Aleksander Drago. Maintaining a career after killing a Latino teenager in a neo-Nazi uniform has got to be difficult. Moreso when he has openly maintained a relationship with the violent white supremacist movement — now alongside his equally racist wife.
“I was once again forced out of my job,” read an anonymous post on TAC-AZ, complaining that “service providers are more stringently scrutinized and backgrounds more deeply explored.”
“Since attaining my license, I have had my employers pressured by my coworkers to force me out of every job I held with the last 3 companies. That’s every location I have ever worked in this field.
This of course is the desired outcome sought by our enemies and their witless and unwitting followers; complete societal exile. We will always be an easy target for ridicule, especially those of us whose names are easily discovered with simple internet searches.
This is just a reminder to always keep your opinions to yourself around civilians and always be conscious of your non verbal optics — they are quite literally NPC’s programmed to detect socially aberrant behaviors and react… and yes, we are considered the aberrant ones.”