Origin: The AB originated in San Quintin prison in 1967. Originally this gang was established to provide protection for white individuals from Black and Hispanic groups. Some of the original members of the AB had been members in a 1950's gang known as the "Bluebirds," and other names used were the "Diamond Tooth Gang" and the "Nazi Gang."

Ideology/Philosophy: The philosophical premise of the AB and its members consists of a mixture of ideologies of white supremacy and German and Irish ancestry. Over the years, the AB has moved away from the Neo-Nazi philosophy, with group members identifying more with Irish ancestry and Norse/Viking symbolism and history. The AB has a "blood in-blood out" philosophy ۩meaning that members kill to gain admission and only are released from membership by their own death. Most members are apolitical and the group's primary orientation now is drug trafficking.

Membership Characteristics: While consisting only of white members, there are documented instances where AB members will associate with blacks (but not admit them to membership) when they are needed for drug and extortion transactions.

Before gaining membership, a recruit must prove his dedication by carrying out a murder of a person targeted for death by the AB. This ritual is called "making your bones." Membership is considered to be for life; the only way out of the AB is by death, either by natural or by the hands of another (including an AB member).

Recruits must receive a unanimous vote from existing members. This often results in close association of numerous inmates who - while subscribing to the AB's tenets and having "made their bones" - are not actual members due to a failure to gain unanimous approval.

The AB is active in prison as well as in communities. Members released from prison are expected to dedicate themselves to supporting members who are still incarcerated.

Leadership/Organizational Structure: From all indications, key decisions and murders must be approved by a "Commission" before being implemented. Members of the Commission communicate via correspondence routed through third parties in the community or during social and attorney visits. In addition, gang members are often "writted" to a single institution from other facilities under the guise of testifying in a court case, so they can hold a gang meeting.

Geographic Locus: The AB has its origins in California, but has spread to numerous other location, primarily through the prison experiences of the members.

Typical Identifiers: Although members of the AB ordinarily wear numerous and varied body tattoos. The true AB tattoo is a shamrock, the letters AB and three sixes. Only members of the AB are permitted to wear the "brand" of the gang; individuals found to be wearing the tattoo without consent of the AB are subject to being murdered.

The AB has realized that prison administrators often identify gang members by their tattoos, and on occasions has instructed members to no longer wear them. As a result, many members have removed or disguised their AB tattoos or on occasion hide AB tattoos on the hairline or underarms.

Timeline: The Aryan Brotherhood

by Danielle Trusso

Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images - Convicts sit in the exercise yard at California’s San Quentin State Prison in 1965. The year before, the Aryan Brotherhood organized because of racial tensions in the prison.

The Aryan Brotherhood began with incarcerated white supremacists who aligned themselves against black and Mexican prisoners. Over its four-decade history, the gang has become less about racist ideology (it has allegedly formed alliances with the Mexican Mafia, another prison gang) than about the acquisition of power.

The "Brand," as the gang is also known, is a selective group; often, a murder or other significant act of violence is required to gain membership. In the 10-year period ending in 1985, for example, incarcerated AB members were linked to 40 homicides in California alone. A brief history of the gang:

1964: The Aryan Brotherhood is founded in California's San Quentin maximum-security prison. Irish bikers formed the Brotherhood to fight against the Black Guerrilla Family. It is rumored that the AB sprung from a 1950s gang known as the Bluebirds.

1980: Throughout the 1980s, the gang becomes more organized as it establishes a chain of command. Two factions of the gang exist -- federal and California state. The federal faction creates a three-man commission to supervise gang activity in federal prisons. Allegedly, Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham are selected to oversee the gang's actions as high commissioners.

1982: An FBI report states that members of the Brotherhood are recruiting new members from prisons around the country. Prison officials try to disband the group by moving members throughout the correctional system. The AB forms a California commission and council that must approve the murder and assault of gang members who violate the organization's rules.

Oct. 22, 1983: Four guards are stabbed, two fatally, by AB members at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill. It is the first time in federal prison history that two guards are killed on the same day.

1990s: Authorities relocate most of the Brotherhood's leaders to "Supermax" prisons, where prisoners are held in single cells for almost the entire day. The gang continues murdering prisoners and trafficking drugs.

1992: Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Jessner begins investigating the gang after it is linked to the strangulation of a prisoner in his cell at the Lompoc federal prison in California.

1993: The AB's federal commission forms a council that organizes day-to-day gang activity in the federal faction.

Fall 1994: Michael Patrick McElhiney arrives at the maximum-security federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan. He came from the Marion federal prison, where he served time with Barry Mills. McElhiney quickly becomes a much-feared AB gang member. In 2002, he is charged with running the gang's day-to-day operations at Marion and with controlling drug trafficking at Leavenworth.

March 24, 1995: Pelican Bay State Prison, a Supermax facility in northwest California, releases gang member Robert Scully on probation. Six days later, Scully fatally shoots a police officer -- evidence that AB crimes have moved beyond gang grudges and prison walls.

1997: Barry Mills and T.D. Bingham allegedly order a race war at a prison in Lewisburg, Pa., leading to the deaths of two black inmates.

1999: Barry Mills writes letters to paroled gang members, urging them to expand the gang's activities outside the prison. The gang allegedly used paroled members as drug dealers, gunrunners, stickup men and hit men.

Aug. 28, 2002: Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Jessner indicts nearly all the members suspected of being leaders in the gang. He charges them with carrying out stabbings, strangulations, poisonings, contract hits, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, robbery and narcotics trafficking.

March 14, 2006: The first in a series of gang-member trials begins in Orange County, Calif., for Barry "The Barron" Mills, T.D. "The Hulk" Bingham, Edgar "The Snail" Hevle and Christopher Overton Gibson. The four are accused of ordering or participating in 15 murders or attempted murders in the last 25 years. Federal racketeering charges are brought against 40 AB members, including Michael McElhiney. In a 140-page indictment, federal prosecutors outline gang actions that allegedly resulted in 32 murders or attempted murders in and out of prison.

July 13, 2006: The defense makes its closing arguments in Santa Ana, Calif., in the trial against accused gang members Mills, Bingham, Heyle and Gibson.

October 2006: Eleven more Aryan Brotherhood members are expected to go on trial in Los Angeles for similar racketeering charges.

Aryan Brotherhood - AB

The following series of videos about the Aryan Brotherhood , originated on the National Geographic Channel as a one hour television documentary.

08/28/2008
Site Design by Matschca Design, Inc.
All Original Content Copyright 1999-2008 Robert Walker