Founded in 1970 by Colonel (Ret.) Frank Nelson, USAF, the Patriots Council was a right-wing anti-government group that operated in central Minnesota. Reportedly, some of its members were also influenced by the radical right Christian Identity ideology, though the group's main focus was on the US tax system, which members claimed was indicative of the government's general overbearing and tyrannical nature. Hence, the Patriots Council did not acknowledge government authority above the county level. In fact, members of the group that faced trial unsuccessfully requested that they be tried under a separate court whose legitimacy they recognized as well. In its history, the group had not successfully committed any attacks, and some members met only to discuss and protest taxes and government intrusion into their personal affairs. However, the Patriots Council had extremist elements as well. These members discussed bombing buildings and killing federal officials as methods to subvert the government's power and authority.<br /><p><br />The Patriots Council was most famous for an early-1990s plot to unleash attacks against federal officials and government targets using the biological toxin ricin, approximately six thousand times more powerful than cyanide. Patriots Council members Doug Baker, LeRoy Wheeler, Dennis Henderson, and Richard Oelrich ordered a ricin "starter-kit" from an advertisement in a right-wing magazine. From the castor beans included in the kit, the men were able to extract .7 grams of ricin before the plot was foiled. According to officials, this amount of ricin, if deployed correctly, was capable of killing more than one hundred people. With the help of an FBI informant inside the organization, the four men were arrested and charged with possession of a deadly biological substance, representing the first people to be charged and convicted under the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989. It appears that this plot was more an independent effort of four extreme individuals rather than an attack planned with the knowledge and consent of the Patriots Council.<br />