So far in 2016, approximately 44 homicides have occurred in Denver. Many of these deaths are covered in the news briefly, then forgotten by the public, allowing family members to grieve privately. On June 18, 1984, a local celebrity was murdered in his own driveway. The victim, the likely murderers and the act itself was so terrible that the residents of Denver may never forget it.

Alan Berg was an attorney and radio personality. He worked at several local Denver stations from the late 1970s until his death in 1984.
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Berg was liberal and outspoken, and was typically confrontational during interviews. He routinely focused on the topics of race and religion, and was often dismissive and rude to callers who did not agree with his views. While many Denver residents enjoyed his abrasive style, others did not. Berg was also Jewish, and convinced that the more conservative residents of Colorado needed to be cured of anti-Semitism. This attitude did not make him popular with some people.
Alan Berg's rhetoric caught the attention of The Order, a white supremacy, neo-Nazi group led by Robert Jay Mathews.
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The Order believed that all non-whites and Jews should be barred from the country. Members of the group funded their cause by acts of crime and terrorism, including bank robberies and counterfeiting.
Berg tried to engage members of The Order in conversation, and succeeded in getting a few of the members to call into his radio show.
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Those on-air conversations did not go well, and succeeded only in making The Order and its members furious. Some time in early 1984, the group made up a hit list of enemies, and Alan Berg's name was on it.
Around 9:30 p.m. on June 18th, 1984, Berg pulled into his driveway on Adams Street.
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As he emerged from his black VW Beetle, he was struck by gunfire from an automatic weapon. Shot 12 times, Berg died in his driveway.
It's thought that David Lane and Bruce Pierce were the gunmen, and that The Order's leader, Robert Jay Mathews was the lookout that night.
Beth Cortez Neavel/flickr
Lane and Pierce were both convicted of Federal charges of racketeering, conspiracy and violating Alan Berg's civil rights.

Lane was sentenced to 190 years at the Federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He died there in in 2007. Pierce was sentenced to 252 years at the Federal prison in Union County, Pennsylvania, where he died in 2010.

Robert Jay Mathews died on December 8, 1984 during a shootout with Federal agents at his home in Coupeville, Washington.
Alan Berg is buried in the Jewish Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.
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Do you remember Alan Berg's radio show and his 1984 murder?

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