Giggling killers out for revenge

By Alison McCulloch



DENVER - In Columbine High School's 1998 yearbook, a group of 11 friends, with smiling, cheery faces, pose for the camera.

It is a typically happy teenage scene, but American history will now show it as a terrible distortion. Instead of happy, read sinister.

These teenagers were the Trench Coat Mafia and dark clothing and dark music was their thing. Now add to that, killing.

Two of the group's members - Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17 - yesterday marched through their school wearing their trade-mark black trench coats and carry-ing guns and pipe bombs.

Giggling as they went, they killed 15 or 16 of their schoolmates and wounded many more before apparently killing themselves.

Why did they do it? What went wrong? These are questions the world is now asking, but fellow students pointed to a passion with guns and violence and a fascination with one of history's most notorious figures, Adolf Hitler.

Trench Coat Mafia members were "into Nazis," and it was no surprise to many students that the event that would change their lives forever fell on the 110th anniversary of Hitler's birth. Clique members often spoke in German and wore swastikas on their clothes.

"They talk about Hitler a lot. They take a real pride in him. It's creepy," said one student. "... They also used to talk in class about decapitating people."

The "mafiosos" were into the "Goth" scene, an offshoot of the punk movement, whose followers dress in black, wear white face powder, black eye makeup and lipstick. Metal rocker Marilyn Manson -- in New Zealand for a concert at the beginning of the year -- was an idol for some of the group's members.

The teens were reported to have banded together because they had been targeted by other students who had no time for them. Their united strength gave them power.

"People wouldn't mess with them because they were tough and everyone knew they'd beat the living daylights out of them," said Columbine student Nicole Dickey.

But that was not how the school saw the pair. Teachers hardly rated them as prized scholars, but they certainly were not known for causing trouble - and neighbours said they gave them no strife.

A classmate said Harris had "changed recently - he's got mean." Klebold was also "different," though not so different that he should stay away from a high school prom last weekend.

Unconfirmed reports said the two teenagers targeted minorities and athletes in their rampage - perhaps, one student suggested, because of their own lack of popularity.

The Denver Post reported 16-year-old Brittany Bollerud, who escaped by hiding under the library, as saying the pair shouted, "This is revenge" - apparently for the shunning they received at the hands of fellow students.

"They asked people if they were jocks [sporting types]. If they were wearing a sports hat, they would shoot them," she said.

The black-clad "mafioso" apparently hung out together in a restaurant near the school.

The manager of Angie's, Chris McCaffrey, described them as "a bunch of punks" who were not particularly feared.

Officials from Denver Public Schools said they had not heard of the "mafia" before the shootings, though were aware of groups of students at several area high schools known to wear dark coats to class.

Soon after the massacre, Inter-net users claiming links to the group suggested the slayings were planned and again linked the killings to Hitler's birthday.