Most prisons in the United States were
racially segregated until the 1960s. As prisons began to
desegregate, many inmates organized themselves into gangs along racial lines. In the early 1970s, the Aryan Brotherhood had a connection with
Charles Manson and the
Manson Family. Several members of the Manson Family were in prison at the time, and they attempted to join forces. However, the relationship did not last long as the Aryan Brotherhood took offense at the murder of pregnant actress
Sharon Tate. The Aryan Brotherhood grew quickly in the California prison system and eventually engaged in a race war in 1975 with the other prison gangs such as La Nuestra Familia, and Black Guerilla Family. As a result of the race war, California prison officials segregated the gangs to different prisons in California. When the Aryan Brotherhood was isolated in the Chino prison, they were able to continue to grow and develop their leadership hierarchy. In 1981,
Thomas Silverstein and
Clayton Fountain were charged with the murder of a black inmate named Robert Chappelle in the
United States Penitentiary, Marion, control unit. It was believed that Silverstein and Fountain strangled Chappelle in his cell. Silverstein and Fountain later killed Raymond Smith, a friend of Robert Chappelle. The two men stabbed Smith 67 times. Silverstein then started to plan killing a correctional officer. On October 22, 1983, gang members from the Aryan Brotherhood killed two correction officers at Marion. Silverstein killed an officer named Merle Clutts, stabbing him approximately 40 times. Several hours later, Fountain also killed an officer named Robert Hoffman. The tactics used were developed for a prior inmate murder; Silverstein used an improvised knife and handcuff key while being taken to the showers. He picked the lock, then attacked and killed Merle Clutts. Fountain used similar tactics to kill Robert Hoffman. By the 1990s, the Aryan Brotherhood had shifted its focus away from killing for strictly racial reasons and focused on organized crime such as drug trafficking, prostitution, and sanctioned murders. In April 1993, members of the Aryan Brotherhood along with members of the
Black Muslims and other gangs in the
Southern Ohio Correctional Facility initiated the
Lucasville Prison Riot in
Lucasville. The rioters took several officers hostage and killed nine inmates, then killed an officer. Their complaints included alleged abusive treatment and overcrowding, with Black Muslims also demanding an end to mandatory
tuberculosis testing, which they said violated their faith.
Investigations and prosecutions In late 2002, 29 leaders of the gang were simultaneously rounded up from prisons all over the country and brought to trial under the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Bingham and Mills were convicted of murder and sent back to
United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility Prison (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, escaping the death penalty. Bingham is serving a life sentence without parole. Mills, also sentenced to life without parole, died in ADX in 2018. Prosecuting the gang has been difficult, because many members are already serving life sentences with no possibility of
parole, so prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for 21 of those indicted but have dropped the death penalty on all but five defendants. By September 2006, the 19 indictees not eligible for the death penalty had pleaded guilty. In April 2024, a federal jury found California State Prison Sacramento inmate Ronald "Renegade" Yandell, 61, guilty of murder in aid of racketeering; conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity; five counts of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering; two counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin; five counts of distribution of heroin; and one count of distribution of methamphetamine. A 34-year-old man associated with the "Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood" was identified as the key suspect known as "
Umbrella Man" who allegedly incited the looting and burning of the first building in the aftermath of the June 2020
George Floyd Protests in Minneapolis. As of late 2022, he has not been charged with any crime. In November 2020, more than sixty individuals that were associated with the Aryan Brotherhood were arrested in a multi-agency operation that took place in California, Montana, and Nevada. Investigators saw evidence that Aryan Brotherhood members were operating outside of prisons and noticed connections between the gang and violent crimes, firearms trafficking, and drug trafficking. The government saw these offenses occurring on the West Coast, however, connections to the gang were made across the country, reaching as far as Alabama, all tied to the Aryan Brotherhood, eventually leading to the seizure of 80 pounds of methamphetamine, 5 pounds of heroin, and more than 25 firearms. == Ideology and motivation ==