SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang were charged Thursday with directing killings and drug smuggling from within California’s most secure prisons, U.S. prosecutors said. The charges detail five slayings and accuse an attorney of helping smuggle drugs and cellphones to aid the white supremacist gang. Sixteen Aryan Brotherhood members and associates are accused of running the criminal enterprise using contraband cellphones, encrypted chats, text messages, multimedia messages and email. Two Aryan Brotherhood associates, acting on the orders of gang leaders, killed the 71-year-old Pinell days after he was moved in 2015 to a Sacramento-area prison, prosecutors say. Authorities have been trying to bring down the Aryan Brotherhood — also known as The Brand — for decades.

Source: thestar June 06, 2019 17:51 UTC