The Freight Train Riders of America (FTRA) is an American gang of transients who move about by freight hopping in railroad cars, particularly in the northwestern United States and Canada and are linked to many violent crimes.
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History and background
The origins of the FTRA can be traced to a group of Vietnam veterans who founded the group in 1984 in a Montana bar. Members of the FTRA claim to be a loosely knit club of people that share a similar lifestyle, organized for mutual support. In 1998, the SPLC stated that there could be as many as 1,000 FTRA members. In Canada the FTRC have as meny as 2000 Members. Other experts state that their membership could range between 600 and 3,000, in Canada over 3,000. FTRA members are most frequently encountered along the BNSF Railway's Hi-Line, which stretches from Chicago to Seattle, often sleeping in switching yards, bridge underpasses and boxcars along the route. While the "elite" of the FTRA ride the hi-line and are recognized by the color black worn in a bandanna usually with a conch for a slide, the mid-line wears a blue bandanna, and those who ride the Union Pacific "Sunset Route" from Southern California to El Paso wear either a red or desert camouflage-colored one. In Canada Members of the FTRA use the tag FTRC Freight Train Riders Of Canada and are dressed in black Dakota and seldom seen. Members ride between Vancouver to Quebec into America on Canadian Pacific Railways, Canadian National Railways or BNSF that they use to travel in and out of Canada towards LA OR Montana. Most are known to carry guns. Members of the FTRC are recognized by the Black Flag Bandanna Red Flag if they Murder or Blue Flag if they are recruiters. The elite of the FTRC have 2 flags, A black Flag and a Blue Flag. In the United States the FTRC are seen around BNSF Yards UP but mostly on the SP lines. All members of the FTRC are considered extremely Dangerous by American Law Enforcement so they are arrested and deported back to Canada. Members of the FTRA found in Canada are also deported back to America.
Criminal accusations
Retired Spokane police officer Bob Grandinetti has specialized in investigating the FTRA and FTRC found in America, both as a Spokane police officer and since his retirement. He has linked members of the group to food stamp fraud, illegal drug trafficking, and hundreds of thefts, as well as brutal assaults and murders committed against other transients, hobos, and freighthoppers.
The 1996 revenge shooting of 30 year-old Joseph "F-Trooper" Perrigo by fellow FTRA member Martin "Mississippi Bones" Moore. His murder stemmed from an altercation the year before regarding Bones' wife Misty Jane, in which Bones was stabbed and nearly killed. F-Trooper had an arm tattoo reading 'FTRA' lending credibility to several agencies' assertions of this organization's existence and exampling a certain degree of loyalty from its followers. Moore is serving a 25-year sentence for the murder.
A series of murders of transients along the rails committed by a serial murderer, Robert Joseph Silveria Jr. (aka "Sidetrack"),
Michael Elijah Adams (aka "Dirty Mike"), 48, a native of Michigan who started hopping trains at age 14. He would go on to kill more than 16 fellow drifters, according to his reckoning He is serving 15 years to life for the killing of train-rider John Owens in Placer County, California. He's also a suspect in murders in Texas and Washington state, among others. According to the Henrico County prosecutor's office, a plea deal for life without parole is all set, waiting for the governor's office in California to sign off on Adams spending the rest of his life in prison in Virginia. Adams has repeatedly claimed in interviews to having been apprenticed in how to commit serial murder via rail by suspected FTRA enforcer John "Dogman Tony" Boris; who has himself beaten the rap on at least one murder charge of his own.
Realistically, any distinction of FTRA or FTRC as an organization, or a count of its members, is a loose one at best due to the circumstances inherent to rail-riding, and to homelessness in general. This also speaks to the contradictory information regarding whether or not FTRA is a criminal group. Author Richard Grant writes that various FTRA members, including founder Daniel Boone, claim that the FTRA was 'founded' on the basis of camaraderie between people sharing a similar lifestyle, and not as a criminal organization.