On September 12th, the Cro-Mag’s were set to perform along with DRI at Café 611 in Fredrick, MD. The night went from a typical gig to a full-on melee as an alleged altercation happened between Cro-Mag’s co-founder Harley Flanagan, his 20-year-old son, and the staff of local music magazine Destroy Zine. Both parties have conflicting statements and allegations about what happened at the show. On one side, you have the Cro-Mags’ official statement; on the other, you have the statement left on the magazine’s Instagram. Destroy Zine added a short clip of some of the altercation, but it is too short to truly show what led up to this incident and how it unfolded.
The TLDR alleged an altercation. From the Cro-Mags side, founding member Harley Flanagan and his 20-year-old son were allegedly physically assaulted by the magazine Destroy Zine staff with no provocation. From the Destroy Zine side, their editor was allegedly sexually harassed by Flanagan, and then she and their staff were allegedly physically assaulted by Flanagan and his son. Apparently, the band had prior contact with the magazine when their staff reached out to set up an interview with the band, which was declined. The band offered the magazine three passes for the show instead of the interview. Destroy Zine refutes this by stating that the band reached out to them through their Instagram DM’s, asking them to come out to cover the show and offering them media passes. Either way you slice it, the band left media passes, and the magazine accepted them to come out and cover the show, that part is factual.
On the date of the show, the magazine apparently set up a table to sell issues of their magazine to concert attendees. This is where the alleged altercation began. According to witnesses, a female staff member (who is identified by Destroy Zine as their editor) of the magazine approached the Cro-Mags merch table and began talking with Flanagan. She mentioned she was the model on the back cover of the current issue. Flanagan reported said, “looks, cool, I will pick on up after the show” and proceeded to walk away.
Destroy Zine’s conflicting statement was:
“Harley Flanagan of the Cro-Mags walks up to us and started asking us about the art on our magazine cover. He then slapped our female editor’s thigh multiple times and said to her, “yeah you better close those legs little girl, you’re sucking me in.” She exclaimed anxiously that she is on the back cover of the magazine, hoping to deflect the attention to something else, in which Harley reply’s “damn right you are, I’ll see you later tonight.” Then he proceeded to say our ‘magazine looks great’ and asked us to reserve him a copy as he wants to see “what we’re up to.”
Shortly after that conversation, whichever side was factual, according to witnesses, the magazine editor allegedly started yelling in the venue that she had been sexually harassed by Flanagan which was followed by another member of the magazine yelling that Flanagan had assaulted his girlfriend as Flanagan’s son looked on from their merch table. This escalated into a physical altercation between Flanagan’s son and the man from Destroy Zine and Flanagan which resulted in the man from the magazine spraying mace directly in the faces of both Flanagan, his son and even on some show attendees. As onlookers watched, including the club owner, Flanagan, and the magazine man continued to scuffle until they were both on the floor and the rest of the magazine staff joined in on the fight, including the female editor who claimed the alleged assault.
According to witnesses, the female allegedly jumped onto Flangan’s back and hit him with a Billy club. At the same time, Flanagan was also slashed with a knife. A retired police officer who happened to be at the show with his own son stepped in to pull her off Flanagan’s back. In the view posted on Destroy Zine’s Instagram page, you can see their female photographer being grabbed by two men trying to subdue her with a visible stun gun in her left hand. The police were called to intervene, and the magazine staff were ejected from the building. Even though Flanagan was injured with an alleged knife wound and maced, the show still went on as planned.
According to the Cro-Mags statement, the victims pressed charges the next morning. Some local businesses in the area have also come forward, stating they have had similar altercations with the magazine. Since this altercation, the band has reported receiving numerous death threats online directly from viewers of the magazine’s social media talking about the incident. What’s next? The Fredrick, MD, Police Department is currently investigating this incident, and due to the online death threats, there is a possibility that the FBI could also become involved.
Stay tuned for updates as they are released.
Official Statements From Both Parties:
Official statement issued by the Cro-Mag’s:
“Cro-Mags’ Harley Flanagan and his 20-year-old son were assaulted before a Cro-Mags show they were playing with DRI at Café 611 in Frederick, MD this past Tuesday night, Sept. 12th. A small local “zine” had written to the band prior to the show asking to interview them. In correspondence, the band declined the interview with an explanation but offered them 3 free passes to the show. According to witnesses, including the owner of the venue and DRI, the group came in and set up a table to sell their magazine. Prior to the show, in a room filled with people, including small children, and Harley’s son, a man and woman from the magazine approached the Cro-Mags merch table next to theirs and started talking. She shared that she was the model on the back cover. Flanagan, in front of his son said, “looks cool, I will pick one up after the show” and walked away. It was not long before the woman started yelling that Flanagan had harassed her, at which point his son came to the other side of the merch table with one of the other people from the magazine who started yelling that Flanagan had assaulted his girlfriend.
As Harley’s son and the man got physical, the man pulled out a can of Mace and sprayed both Flanagan and son directly in their faces. And proceeded to spray the room of patrons with Mace. The club owner witnessed all of this. Flanagan Jr and the magazine guy soon hit the ground fighting and the rest of their crew, including the girl got involved. When Flanagan came over, the girl jumped on his back and began hitting him with a billy club. He was at that time slashed with a knife, through his pants. The girl was physically removed from Flanagan’s back by a retired Police Officer, there with his son (who is cooperating with local police).
The club owner came to the melee, police showed up and the magazine group was removed from the premises. Flanagan played the show with a flesh wound and the remnants of mace in his eyes and nose. Several witnesses have come forward, all cooperating with police, most notably the club owner, the retired police officer and the band DRI. The band has since received numerous death threats as the magazine has been spreading their story on social media which began with harassment and has now become assault.
Local business owners have since come forward with similar experiences involving the couple from the magazine and are currently cooperating with authorities during the investigation. The FBI may become involved as threats of violence and death have been received across state lines. The victims pressed charges the morning after the event and the assault is currently being investigated by the Frederick, MD Police Department. Harley wishes to state emphatically, “the idea of assaulting a woman is reprehensible to me and it didn’t happen and it wouldn’t happen.” Any further comments will come from Mr. Flanagan’s attorney Harley Breite, Esq. of Wayne, NJ.”
Destroy Zine’s statement from their Instagram account:
“The Cro-Mags offered us “press passes” over Instagram messenger to come document their show at Cafe 611 in Frederick, Maryland. We happily said “yes” as we were fans of their band. We went with the possibility of an interview with Harley Flanagan of the Cro-Mags, and we were very excited to meet them at first.
We arrived at the show and went to the vending area. Merch is completely set up and ready to go. People start coming to check out what we have and asking us about prices for things. As a kid is purchasing a patch from our table Harley Flanagan of the Cro-Mags walks up to us and started asking us about the art on our magazine cover. He then slapped our female editors thigh multiple times and said to her: “yeah you better close those legs little girl, you’re sucking me in”
She exclaimed anxiously that she is on the back cover of the magazine, hoping to deflect the attention to something else, in which Harley reply’s “damn right you are, I’ll see you later tonight”. Then he proceeded to say our ‘magazine looks great’ and asked us to reserve him a copy as he wants to see “what we’re up to”. We felt let down, disappointed that someone who is looked up to by so many people just felt welcome to openly say that in front of us, let alone TOUCH a young girl. Harley’s “nephew” or “son” as he says then comes over to her and apologized for Harleys actions. We didn’t interact with the band or any of their crew after that besides to give Harley a Silver Sharpie. He had started yelling at us about the sharpie and we gave it to him in hopes he would leave us alone.”
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