The Lords of Chaos was a self-styled teen militia formed on April 13, 1996, in Fort Myers, Florida, United States.
The group gained notoriety for a crime spree that ended on April 30, 1996, with the murder of one of the boys' teachers, Mark Schwebes, the Riverdale High School's band director.
It is also the subject of a Dateline NBC special, When A Killer Calls,[2] as well as being mentioned in Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground by Michael Moynihan & Didrik Søderlind, with the book borrowing the group's name.
On April 12, 1996, in Fort Myers, Florida, Kevin Foster, Pete Magnotti, and Chris Black went on a vandalism and arson spree.
[2] Florida juvenile records show that only the group's ringleader, Kevin Foster, had any prior arrests or criminal history, consisting primarily of driving violations.
Kevin "God" Foster, Pete "Fried" Magnotti, Chris "Slim" Black, and Derek "Mob" Shields made up the core members of the Lords of Chaos.
The group also included lesser associates, Chris "Red" Burnett, Thomas "Dog" Torrone, Brad Young, and Craig Lesh.
"[3]: 102 On April 17, 1996, the group wrote a document entitled "Declaration of War — Formal Introduction of Lords of Chaos," which they planned to mail to the Lee County Clerk/Traffic Violations Bureau but ultimately did not.
The manifesto warned: Lee County is dealing with a formidable foe, with high caliber intelligence, balls of titanium alloy, and a wicked, destructive streak.
Be prepared for destruction of biblical proportions, for this is the coming of a NEW GOD, whose fiery hand shall lay waste to the populous [sic].
[3]: 112 In the early morning hours of April 20, 1996, the group, aided by Lyle Rath, escalated their terror campaign by destroying a historic 12,300-square-foot (1,140 m2) two-story brick Coca-Cola bottling plant in Fort Myers.
[2] Foster's original plan had been to destroy the building on April 19 to emulate the Oklahoma City bombing on its one year anniversary.
As a perverse joke, Foster used a Pepsi can filled with gunpowder and fitted with a 25-foot firework fuse to destroy the historic building.
While the other boys arranged propane tanks around the building which they had previously stolen from a local convenience store, Foster ignited the fuse of the homemade bomb.
On April 26, Kevin Foster and Peter Magnotti robbed and carjacked Emory Lewis, Derek Shields's landlord and the owner of the local Alva Country Diner.
[4] Foster rigged a Clorox bleach bottle full of gasoline with a lit rag and threw it through the auditorium window.
Mark Schwebes, 32, the band director at Riverdale, caught members of the group loitering on the school grounds and confiscated the peaches, staplers, and fire extinguisher.
Most of the other boys went home, leaving only Kevin Foster, Chris Black, Pete Magnotti, and Derek Shields, the group's core members.
From Schuchard, detectives learned not only of Schwebes's murder, but of the group's plans to commit armed robbery at a Hardee's restaurant where Magnotti and Shields worked.
In March 1997, Magnotti pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, was sentenced to 32 years and agreed to testify.
Foster told his attorneys, Bob Jacobs and Marquin Rinard, that he considered this fate worse than going to "Old Sparky," Florida's electric chair.