 Its appeal was directed exclusively at white Protestants; it opposed Jews, blacks, Catholics, and newly arriving Southern and Eastern European immigrants such as Italians, Russians, and Lithuanians, many of whom were Jewish or Catholic.Some local groups threatened violence against rum runners and those they deemed "notorious sinners"; the violent episodes generally took place in the South.The Red Knights were a militant group organized in opposition to the Klan and responded violently to Klan provocations on several occasions.