Operation Red Dog

For operation against Sandinista regime launched by Contras in Nicaragua known as "Operation Red Dog" on May 30, 1984, see La Penca bombing.
Operation Red Dog
TypeAttempted coup d'état
Locations
Intended target: Dominica

Arrest location: New Orleans, U.S.
Planned byPatrick John, Wolfgang Droege, Don Black, Mike Perdue, Sydney Burnett-Alleyne, James Alexander McQuirter
TargetGovernment of Eugenia Charles
Date27 April 1981 (1981-04-27)
OutcomePlot thwarted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
CasualtiesNone

Operation Red Dog was the code name of an April 27, 1981, military filibustering plot by Canadian and American citizens, largely affiliated with white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan groups, to overthrow the government of Dominica. They planned to restore former Prime Minister Patrick John to power. The chief figures included American Klansman Mike Perdue, German-Canadian neo-Nazi Wolfgang Droege, American white supremacist Don Black and Barbadian weapons smuggler Sydney Burnett-Alleyne.[1] After the plot was thwarted by US federal agents in New Orleans, Louisiana, the news media dubbed it "Bayou of Pigs", after the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba.[1]

The leader Mike Perdue and six other men pleaded guilty to violation of the Neutrality Act; two others were found guilty by a jury.[2] The men each received three-year prison sentences.[3] Another man linked to the plot committed suicide after being implicated as a financier.[4]

Perdue claimed former Texas Governor John Connally and Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) knew about the plot, but United States district judge Lansing Mitchell stated that neither had any connection to the plot and refused to subpoena them.[5]

  1. ^ a b A, C (October 4, 2006). "Tull: Tell us about coup rumours". Nation Newspaper. Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  2. ^ "2 GUILTY IN NEW ORLEANS FOR PLOT ON DOMINICA INVASION", The New York Times, June 21, 1981
  3. ^ "KLANSMEN GET 3-YEAR TERMS", Boston Globe, July 23, 1981
  4. ^ "Lawyer left suicide note - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
  5. ^ "JUDGE DENIES CONNALLY SUBPOENA IN TRIAL OF 3 ALLEGED MERCENARIES". New York Times. June 14, 1981. Retrieved 13 August 2022.