[5] Inspired to rob banks in order to support white supremacist movements by Mark Thomas, the ARA, founded in 1992 by Langan and her best friend from school Richard Lee Guthrie Jr., considered itself a leaderless organization.

After filming and producing right-wing propaganda videos, the group grew and recruited bank robber affiliates: Michael Brescia, Shawn Kenny, Kevin McCarthy, and Scott Stedeford.

[2][6] In addition to wearing Nixon, Reagan and Clinton masks, the ARA also wore jackets and hats emblazoned with "FBI," "ATF" or other law-enforcement acronyms.

Brescia and Guthrie both resided for a time at Elohim City, Oklahoma, a private community made up of followers of the late Christian Identity pastor Robert G. Millar, and other persons associated with right-wing extremist and white nationalist-style views.

According to Hammer, McVeigh claimed to have been working as a deep cover operative for the US Department of Defense, having infiltrated ARA and participated in several of the group's bank robberies.

During the early 1990s, Langan and her childhood friend Richard Guthrie formed the Aryan Republic Army, a white supremacist group with motives to overthrow the US government.

Langan, a transgender woman, who publicly renounced her political and racist views, served 18 years in a male prison before being transferred to a female penitentiary after a legal fight in 2014 during the Obama administration.

[12] After getting kicked out of the Navy in 1983 for painting a swastika on the side of a ship and threatening superiors, Guthrie attended gatherings of the Aryan Nations and traveled the country distributing Christian Identity propaganda.

[14] A resident of Elohim City and a former student at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, Michael William Brescia was recruited for the ARA by Aryan Nations Pennsylvania state leader, Mark W.

[16] A 1991 Oak Hills High School graduate and one-time Aryan Nations member from Cincinnati, Shawn Kenny already had a racist background prior to being befriended by Langan at a law seminar.

[22] A native Pennsylvanian, Kevin "Blondie" McCarthy spent his adolescence experimenting with drugs before eventually becoming a resident of the Elohim City compound in the fall of 1994.

[23] A fellow white supremacist and resident of the Elohim City compound, Chevie Kehoe was contracted by the Aryan Republican Army to assassinate the Mueller family.

[24] While his exact connection to group has not been revealed, white supremacist Dennis Mahon is known to have been close friends with members of the Aryan Republican Army during his stay at Elohim City.

[25] A handful of videos were taken which depict Dennis Mahon engaging in paramilitary training alongside Andreas Strassmeir and Carol Howe, as well as a few other individuals which have not been identified.