Aryan Brotherhood Research Paper

Security Threat: Gangs Inside Prison Walls
By: Katelynn Gregory
CJ130; Unit 9 Final Project
03/07/2015

The Aryan Brotherhood, also know widely as The Brand, Alice Baker, AB, or One-Two, is the Nation’s oldest major white supremacist gang and national crime syndicate. The Aryan Brotherhood gang was founded in 1964 by Irish bikers as a form of protection for white inmates in newly desegregated prisons. The founding location of this gang was at the San Quentin State Prison in California. The idea of the AB was initially to have a safety line so to speak when prisons were desegregated. They band together to make sure no one from another raced messed with them. Today, things have changed. They are now operating in and out of
prisons all over the country. Although it clearly has a white supremacist ideology, it is above all criminal enterprise. If a sect of Ab was given the choice between cash and showing there devoted racism, members would virtually go for the cash.
The Aryan Brotherhood has often worked with Latino and other gangs to make a profit, putting their racial tendencies aside. The AB participates in drug trafficking, male prostitution rings, gambling, and extortion inside prison walls. On the streets, the AB is involved in practically every kind of criminal enterprise, including murder-for-hire, armed robbery, gun running, methamphetamine manufacturing, heroin sales, counterfeiting and identity theft. California is still the main stomping grounds for the Aryan Brotherhood and is still growing on a daily basis. They have many allies inside of the prison which makes their criminal activities easier to handle and their growth more profitable. They are allies, inside and out, with gangs such as the Mexican Mafia, Hell’s Angels, the Gambino and Philadelphia Crime family and also the Irish Mob. They also have several rivals including Aryan Circle, Black Guerrilla Family, Folk Nation, MS-13, Bloods and the Crips. During the early 1970s, cult leader Charles Manson sought the AB’s protection. He was refused membership because he declined to kill other
inmates because of their skin color.
But the AB still used his coterie of female fans to smuggle drugs and weapons into San Quentin. The AB is a notoriously deadly organization. Some years ago, authorities calculated that while the group’s members made up less than one tenth of 1% of the U.S. prison inmate population, they were responsible for 18% of all prison murders. In recent years, authorities have been repeatedly frustrated by the way that imprisoned AB leaders have been able to organize and direct major criminal enterprises even from solitary confinement, where most are held. In 2002, they moved to indict 29 leaders of the federal AB organization, all of them held in various prisons around the country, for violations of federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Twenty-one of the leaders were charged with death penalty offenses, even though many were already serving life terms, because prosecutors felt that was the only way they could stop their criminal activities. Among those charged with capital offenses were AB commissioners Mills and Bingham. But the tactic failed
spectacularly when juries returned many convictions but no death penalties. The officials’ so-called “decapitation strike” had failed.

The Black Guerilla Family (also known as the Black Family or the Black Vanguard) is a prison and street gang founded in 1966 by George Jackson and W.L. Nolen while they were incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, California, north of an. the Black Guerilla Family was characterized as an ideological African-American Marxist revolutionary organization composed of prisoners. It was founded with the stated goals of eradicating racism, maintaining dignity in prison, and overthrowing the United States government. BGF is mainly active within the California and Maryland prison system, but can be found in most US prisons. BGF members are highly influential within the prison system and are known to recruit correctional facility staff to aid their illegal activities. In addition, BGF is actively involved in drug trafficking, extortion, and violent crimes within the prison system. Cocaine and marijuana sales account for the majority of the gang’s income. Known alliances of the BGF are the Neustria Familiar and Dead Man Incorporated. The Black Guerrilla Family has many allies including but not limited to Symbionese Liberation Army, Crips, Bloods, Gangster Disciples and Weather Underground. They have very few known rivals in the present time but those are, and have been since the beginning Aryan Brotherhood, Mexican Mafia, and Texas Syndicate.

Folk Nation, also known as Folk or Folks, originating in 1978 in Illinois isn’t defined as a gang but rather an alliance of street gangs. Since forming in Illinois it has since spread, primarily in the Midwest. The Folk Nation was formed on November 11, 1978, within the confines of the Illinois Department of Corrections. Larry Hoover, the chairman of the Gangster Disciple Nation, created the idea for the alliance and persuaded many leaders of large Black, White, and Latino gangs from Chicago to join. Soon after its formation, the People Nation was formed to counter the Folks alliance. Major Folk Nation sets, gangs, include Black Disciples, Gangster Disciples, Insane Spanish Cobras, Latin Eagles, Simon City Royals, and many others. The only know rival to Folk Nation itself is People Nation. Pinpointing what Folk Nation does criminally in and out of the prison system is difficult since it isn’t necessarily a gang. Each gang has their own business ventures and criminal enterprises and may be different throughout the entire Alliance.

The Mexican Mafia was founded in 1957 by Luis “Huero Buff” Flores in the Deuel Vocational Institution in California. The Mexican mafia, also known as La Eme, is a highly organized Mexican American Criminal Organization in the United States. The name can be misleading as the Mexican Mafia did not originate in Mexico but is an entirely U.S criminal prison organization. Law enforcement officials have report that La eMe is the most powerful gang within the California Prison system. Government officials state that there are currently 300-400 official members of the Mexican Mafia with around 1,000 or more associates who assist them in carrying out its illegal activist in hopes of becoming full members or for protection. The Mexican Mafia has a heavy presence in the USA federal prison system, California prison system, and heavy presence in at least 12 other states including Arizona, Texas, and New Mexica. In the recent years the Mexican Mafia has minor influence in Spain, Italy, and Belgium along with other areas within Europe. There criminal activities within the prison walls include Murder, money laundering, drug trafficking, pandering, extortion fraud and illegal gambling. They have been known to employ not only correctional officers and corrections staff but police, sheriffs, and even different federal agents to help with security and the illegal activities. This is one reason they are considered highly dangerous as you never know who is working for them. They have many allies, but all with the same allegiance to the Mexican Mafia such as Gulf Cartel, MS-13, Florencia 13, and New Mexico Syndicate to name a few. A couple of their biggest, most dangerous rivals include the Crips, Bloods, Black Guerilla Family, and Tango Blast among others. Because of the influence the Mexican Mafia has and the power they possess within the walls of multiple states prison systems they are growing and expanding at a rapid rate. Keeping up with new members and deceased members are very hard with a gang this big and influential so the numbers change on a normal basis.

The MS-13 which is the abbreviation for Mara Salvatrucha is a transnational criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1980’s by Salvadoran immigrants in the cities Pico-Union neighborhood who immigrated to the United States after the Central American Civil wars. The original purpose of the gang was to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other, more established gangs in LA who were predominantly composed of Mexicans and African-Americans. Gang members are often arrested and the deported but make their way back to the United States as they play a major role in illegal immigration and human smuggling. With nearly 70,000 members around the world, only 10,000 of those members reside in the United States. Reports show that the deportation policies have contributed to the size and influence of the gang both in the United States and Central America. In 2004, the US FBI started the MS-13 National Gang Task Force. The FBI also began teaming with law enforcement in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. MS-13 are involved in many different criminal activities including but not limited to drug, arms and human trafficking, Larceny, racketeering, kidnapping, and murder. They have an allegiance to the Mexican Mafia in and out of the prison system which makes them even more dangerous. They also have been known to employ border patrol, guards, and other officials in the aid of many of their trafficking and criminal activities. They are known for their violent tendencies and the “All for one” motto they stand by. MS-13 are known to start riots, as if one person of the gang starts a fight, the motto All for one comes into play and everyone who can jumps in causing riots. They are unpredictable and can be a danger to anyone who comes into their path.
All of these gangs or alliances have many things in common. All of them originated in the prison system to defend something. Whether it is there race, culture, beliefs or property they all began the same way. Another similarity all these gangs have in common is the criminal activities they are involved in. All of these gangs are known to be violent and participate in racketeering, murder, prostitution and drugs trafficking/dealing. Since the time these gangs/alliances have formed they have all been known to “employ” government officials/worker. Whether it was border control so that the MS-13 could bring immigrants over here illegally or send children/humans to Mexico to be sold for different purposes, to correctional guards being hired to bring in drugs or other contraband into the prison or to facilitate a safe area during a shift where the gang allies or rivals can take care of business without being caught. They are all very dangerous and have the same goals in mind; money and power. As times change so do gangs, unfortunately as we have seen in the most recent years, these gangs among others are not changing for the good. They are growing, recruiting younger and younger associates that they are giving full membership too, and becoming more violent and powerful. Gangs are not going to just disappear, no matter the time, effort, and arrests that are made, they will continue to show their strength and continue on doing what they are.

References
1.) National Geographic. "Gang Uses Deportation to its Advantage to Flourish in the U.S.". National Geographic. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
2.) http://www.nagia.org/
3.) http://vault.fbi.gov/Aryan%20Brotherhood%20
4.) Juggalos: Emerging Gang Trends and Criminal Activity Intelligence Report". National Gang Information Center. 2011-02-15. p. 5 and 7
5.) Walker, Robert (April 27, 2013). "History of The Black Guerilla Family Prison Gang". Gangs or Us
6.) http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/gangs/sets4.html
7.) Siegel, L. J., & Bartollas, C. (2013). Corrections Today, 2e, 2nd Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781285945262