Aryan Brotherhood

Aryan Brotherhood

In	San Quentin State Prison, California
Years active	1964-present
Territory	federal prison system, California, Texas, New York, Ohio and Arizona
Ethnicity	White
Membership	15,000+
Criminal activities	Murder, Conspiracy, Contract killing, Drug trafficking, Extortion, Racketeering, Dog fighting, Arms trafficking, and inmate prostitution
Allies	Mexican Mafia,[1] Nazi Lowriders,[2] Hells Angels[1]
Rivals	Black Guerrilla Family,[1] Nuestra Familia,[1] D.C. Blacks[2], Crips, Bloods and all Black Prison Gangs

The Aryan Brotherhood, also known as Alice Baker, the AB, The Brand, or the One-Two, is a white prison gang; numbering about 15,000^[3] members in and out of prison.^[4] In March 2006, four leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood were indicted for numerous crimes, including murder, conspiracy, drug trafficking, racketeering, dog fighting, and arms trafficking.^[4] According to the FBI, although the gang makes up less than 1% of the prison population, it is responsible for up to 18% of murders in the federal prison system.^[5][6]

Foundation

Until the 1960s, most prisons in the United States were racially segregated. As prisons began to desegregate, inmates organized along racial lines.^[6] The Aryan Brotherhood is believed to have been formed by a group of bikers in 1964 at San Quentin State Prison,^[4] with prosecutors of cases against the gang saying it was formed in reaction to the Black Panthers.^[7] It may have been derived from or inspired by a previous entity, the Bluebird Gang.^[4] At the beginning the membership was exclusively Irish American^[7], but over time, Caucasians from other backgrounds were allowed to join. The group has an alliance with La Eme (The Mexican Mafia) as the two are mutual enemies of Black Guerrilla Family.

AB Oath

"I will stand by my brother, my brother will come before all others. My life is forfeited should I fail my brother. I will honour my brother in peace and war."

Federal Investigation

On June 23, 2005, after a 20-month investigation, a federal strike force raided six houses in northeastern Ohio belonging to the "Order of the Blood", a criminal organization controlled by the Aryan Brotherhood. Thirty-four Aryan Brotherhood members or associates were arrested and warrants were issued for ten more.^[6]

Also in 2005, culminating an eight year investigation, federal prosecutors indicted forty members of the organization, thirty of whom were already incarcerated, for a wide variety of crimes. Prosecuting the gang has been historically difficult, because many members are already serving life sentences with no possibility of parole, so prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for twenty-one of those indicted but have dropped the death penalty on all but five defendants. By September of that year, the nineteen inductees not eligible for the death penalty had plead guilty.^[6] The first of a series of trials involving four high level members ended in convictions in July 2006. Two of the four went through a death penalty hearing and the jury deadlocked. Before sentencing, federal prosecutors filed a request that once the sentencing was over, the four would live out their sentences in solitary confinement, banned from communicating with anyone except their attorneys. The judge refused to rule on the request, telling prosecutors to file it with the United States Attorney General and they immediately withdrew. One was sentenced to four life terms, two were sentenced to three life terms, all without the possibility of parole, and one has yet to be sentenced. Some members are still awaiting trial.

Organization and committed crimes

Organization at lower levels varies from prison to prison. For example, in the Arizona prison system, members are known as "kindred" and organize into "families". A "council" controls the families. Kindred may recruit other members, known as "progeny", and serve as a mentor for the new recruit.^[8]

Like most prison gangs, Aryan Brotherhood members mark themselves with distinctive tattoos. Designs commonly include the words "Aryan Brotherhood", the acronym "AB", 666, SS sig runes, spiderwebs near the elbow, shamrocks, and other Nazi and/or Celtic iconography.^[5]

The Aryan Brotherhood has since focused on the economic activities typical of organized crime entities, particularly drug trafficking, extortion, inmate prostitution, and murder-for-hire. According to a recent federal indictment, the Brotherhood has partnered with Asian gangs to import heroin from Thailand. The Brotherhood allegedly has a business relationship with the Mexican Mafia prison gang. While incarcerated in Marion Federal Penitentiary in 1996, after being assaulted, Gambino crime family boss John Gotti allegedly asked the Aryan Brotherhood to murder his attacker. Gotti's attacker was immediately transferred to protective custody and the plan was abandoned.^[5][9]

Known leaders

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (July 2009)

Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham are among 3 leaders of the gang.

In March 2006, Three other leaders of the gang, including Barry Byron Mills (born 1948) and AB "lieutenant" Tyler "The Hulk" Bingham, were indicted for numerous crimes, including murder, conspiracy, drug trafficking, and racketeering for ordering killings and beatings from their cell.^{[4][10][10][11][12]} Tyler Bingham and Barry Mills were convicted of murder and sent back to United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility Prison (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, USA where they are serving life sentence with no parole, escaping the death penalty. Bingham has a tattoo of a Swastika on one shoulder and a Hexagram on the other.

Former members

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (July 2009)

Michael Thompson, Casper Odinson Crowell, John Greschner and Bob Overton.

Michael Thompson is a former member of the Aryan Brotherhood ^[13][14], who was a former high school football star, and is part Native American. He claims to have killed twenty-two people behind bars, all gang-war related, while in the brotherhood. Thompson later became an informant against the Aryan Brotherhood after another AB member, killed the father, wife and friend of an AB informant named Steven Barnes. Thompson allegedly was appalled by the lack of respect AB showed to the police informant inside its ranks, and began cooperating with the FBI. In a documentary with National Geographic called 'Lockdown', he said that killing police informants was something he was not willing to accept as a human being. Thompson's gang nick name was "In the hat," which is AB slang for putting someone on their kill-list. Thompson has spent the past twenty years working with authorities in their efforts to clamp down on the activities of the AB. As well as testifying against AB members in court, he has given lectures and written documents on the activities of the Brotherhood. Thompson is sentenced to multiple life sentences with no chance of parole and will spend the rest of his life in protective custody sections of California prisons.^[11][12]

Depictions

Documentaries

• Aryan Brotherhood National Geographic documentary ^[15]
• Ross Kemp on Gangs (2004-present)
• Gangland: Aryan Brotherhood (BBC)*Reigning in Hell

Films

• Felon (2008)
• Death Race (2008)
• The Death and Life of Bobby Z (2007)
• Miami Vice (2006)
• The Butterfly Effect (2004)
• Lockdown (2000)
• American History X (1998)
• Dead Man Walking (1995)
• Higher Learning (1995)
• Blood in Blood out (1993)
• American Me (1992)
• South Central (1992)
• An Innocent Man (1989)

TV series

• American Gangs (2009) ^[16]
• Gangland (2009)
• Sons of Anarchy (2008)
• Gangland (2007)
• Raines (2007)
• Prison Break (2005-2009)
• Oz (1997-2003)

Popular culture

• Hard Time (comic book; 2004-06)
• The Suffering (video game; 2004)

See also

Gangs portal

Members

• Barry Mills
• Tyler Bingham
• Michael Thompson former member

Organizations

• Neo nazi
• Ku Klux Klan
• List of California street gangs
  • Public Enemy No. 1
  • Nazi Lowriders
• European Kindred
• Volksfront

References

External links

• "The Brand" in The New Yorker
• "Aryan Brotherhood's profile"
• "America's most dangerous prisoner?"
• "Witness: Prison gang dreamed big" in the Orange County Register'
• People v. Price (1991) 1 C4th 324
• "Feds: Aryan gang played role in 2005 Causey killing"
• R. Scott Moxley's Monster's Ball: Feds, Aryan Brotherhood come to paint the OC courthouse white
• Aryan Brotherhood description and historical timeline from gangsorus.com
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2532861.stm
• Aryan Brotherhood trial opens in California
• "Aryan Brotherhood trial opens in California-Yahoo News" (Link dead as of 19:59, 14 January 2007 (UTC))