Insurgency Overview
The Aryan Brotherhood (AB), also known as the Brand, the Rock, or simply the Brotherhood, is a white supremacist prison gang based in the USA. It is known to be an extremely violent gang, as the Aryan Brotherhood is responsible for a disproportionately high number of homicides within the American prison system (1). The gang engages in various illicit activities, including the production, trafficking, and sale of drugs, as well as involvement in prostitution, protection rackets, and extortion both within and outside of the confines of prisons across the United States (2).
Established in 1967 by inmates at San Quentin State Prison, the gang was initially set up to safeguard white prisoners from other emerging gangs organized along racial lines. However, it swiftly transformed into a full-fledged criminal enterprise. Despite its espousal of white supremacist ideology and symbolism, the primary motivation of the Aryan Brotherhood is financial gain and the pursuit of power (3). The AB will work with other gangs, regardless of their racial makeup, when convenient or profitable. Nevertheless, the gang remains a main antagonist of racial tensions within the US federal prison system and members frequently use racism as a motive or justification for their violent acts. The gang amassed much of its power due to its violent reputation and has thus been able to assimilate many other white gangs, from biker clubs to white power skinheads (4). Its notoriety has propelled the AB to the top of the food chain among American prison gangs and its reputation has spread beyond prison walls, with many movies and TV shows depicting the gang and its brutality.
History and Foundations
Until 1964, prisons in the United States were racially segregated. This policy came to an end with the enactment of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited all forms of segregation, including within prisons. However, once prisons became integrated racial tensions rose and prisoners began to organize themselves into racially-defined gangs. Even though prison gangs were not a new phenomenon, this led to a sharp uptick in interracial violence in prisons. In San Quentin State Prison, one of these such gangs was the Bluebird Gang, who were comprised of white inmates (3). The Bluebirds later changed their name to the Diamond Teeth Gang, after the pieces of glass members glued to their teeth to intimidate rivals, before eventually evolving into the Aryan Brotherhood (5).
These tensions reached a boiling point on January 17th, 1967, when a race riot erupted in San Quentin State Prison. 1,800 Black inmates faced off against 1,000 white inmates following a series of incidents over the previous few days. Black inmates working in the prison kitchen had gone on strike due to racism from guards. The strike led to several racially-motivated attacks; the most drastic of which being the murder of a neo-Nazi, Robert Holderman, by Black Guerilla Family (BGF) members the day before the riot broke out (6). The riot made many white prisoners question their safety within San Quentin. Faced with this uncertainty, the Diamond Teeth Gang, feeling the need for solidarity, united with other white inmates to establish the Aryan Brotherhood.
Soon, the Brotherhood spread throughout the California state prison system and by 1975, they were present in most prisons across the state (5). Once authorities became aware of the group they transferred inmates to separate prisons, hoping to thwart the gang's ascent to power. Paradoxically, this only enabled the group to expand its influence. Members would commit vicious acts of violence upon arriving at a new prison to establish their dominance, making it abundantly clear to the other inmates that the Aryan Brotherhood was in town and they meant business. Due to its reputation, the AB was then able to absorb smaller white gangs, including many bikers and skinheads, recruiting only the most hardened and dangerous criminals into their ranks (2).
When cult leader Charles Manson and his followers were imprisoned for a series of murders in 1971, he sought to join forces with the Aryan Brotherhood both for protection and because of their shared beliefs. Fearing retaliation from Black inmates due to his infamous attempt to antagonize a race war, the five-foot-two Manson and his hippy followers needed someone with the power to ensure their safety (8). Initially, the two groups formed an alliance and some of the women in the Manson Family even became romantically involved with members of the AB. The gang used their newly acquired girlfriends to smuggle weapons and drugs into prisons (8). However, the two groups had a falling out as Manson refused to kill a Black inmate as a part of an initiation ritual. As well, some of the Brotherhood’s members took offense to the murder of the pregnant, not to mention white, actress Sharon Tate. They soon went their separate ways, with the AB taking several of the Manson Family women with them (7).
As the Brotherhood’s power continued to grow, the racial violence within the California prison system only worsened. They allied themselves with the Mexican Mafia, a powerful Mexican-American prison gang that also rose to prominence after the desegregation of the prison system, despite the Brotherhood’s racial views as the two gangs shared a common enemy: the Black Guerilla Family. The Mexican Mafia began outsourcing its hits to the Brotherhood, who were notorious contract killers and had many white guards on their side. These alliances created the perfect storm for a race war. The Brotherhood found itself at war with La Nuestra Familia, the sworn enemies of the Mexican Mafia (2).
Because of the spike in murders during the mid-1970s, many AB members were sent to federal prison for their crimes. Here, they began taking control of existing gangs, either willingly or by force. As the gang’s influence grew and its objectives shifted from protection to power and monetary gain, the need for a revamped organizational structure became evident. All major decisions, such as whether to carry out a murder or admit a new member, would require approval from all members, which was becoming a cumbersome task (2). In 1980, the gang split into two separate but allied factions; one for members in state prisons based out of California and one for their federal counterparts. The federal organization subsequently established a “commission” made up of three of the Brotherhood’s most notorious high-ranking members to control the gang’s activities, departing from its previous one-man-one-vote policy. The commission centralized power and streamlined the organization. A 12-man council was to serve under the commission to manage the gang’s day-to-day operations (5). The state organization soon followed suit (1).
The state organization was led by Michael Thompson, who had swiftly moved up the ranks of the AB driven by his ferocity and his ambition since his incarceration in 1974. He caught the Brotherhood’s attention after stabbing a BGF member on his second day at Folsom Prison. It was power, not racism, that attracted him to the Brand; he was initially unsure of whether to join because of their racial views. Nonetheless, he needed protection as a lone wolf was an easy target for other gangs and had already been attacked several times. As he made his way up, he saw an opportunity to make the organization more efficient and mitigate some of its high propensity for murder. Despite his efforts, he ultimately failed and left the AB in 1984 after a snitch’s father was murdered, which he objected to and tried to prevent. He entered protective custody thereafter and managed to evade the Brotherhood’s subsequent attempts to kill him, being secretly shuffled from prison to prison frequently (5).
After receiving the blessing of the Brotherhood’s leaders in California including Thompson, Barry Mills, known as “The Baron”, established the federal division of the AB while serving time in USP Atlanta (8) (4). Mills, described as “extremely intelligent and very charismatic”, has a similar story to many other members. He joined the AB in California, at San Quentin, and then moved on to federal prison for planning a bank robbery on behalf of the AB (9). Along with T.D. "The Hulk" Bingham and John Greschner on the commission, he sought to reform the AB from a violent hate group into a tightly organized criminal enterprise. They not only wanted to control the underworld within prison walls but outside of them as well (4).
One of the federal prisons the AB was able to expand into was United States Penitentiary (USP) Marion in Illinois. Here, the gang established a formidable presence, bringing chaos and murder in its wake. In 1981, Robert Chappelle, a member of the D.C. Blacks gang, allies of the BGF, was killed at USP Marion. The crime was pinned on two AB members, Clayton Fountain and Thomas “Terrible Tom” Silverstein (10). Both already convicted murderers, Fountain was considered the most dangerous man in the American prison system at the time. He had initially been incarcerated for murdering his staff sergeant while serving as a US Marine in the Philippines (11). Meanwhile, Silverstein was a loyal follower from a broken home seeking validation from his comrades. He was known to inmates and guards in Marion for his intricate but disturbing artwork (5).
Caption: A drawing by Silverstein. Much of his artwork depicted his feelings of dehumanization and despair from his confinement.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/obituaries/thomas-silverstein-dead.html (Some alternatives available here: https://www.peteearley.com/thomas-silverstein/)
Even though Silverstein protested his innocence, he and Fountain were convicted for Chapelle’s murder. Both Fountain and Silverstein were housed in a special “control unit” where they spent virtually all of their time isolated in solitary confinement in order to minimize human contact. Shortly thereafter, Raymond Lee "Cadillac" Smith, leader of the D.C. Blacks, was transferred to Marion and began threatening to kill Fountain and Silverstein. However, the two got to Smith first, stabbing him 67 times and parading his corpse along the cellblock to send a message to the other prisoners (10). This resulted in a war between the D.C. Blacks and the AB that spread to other prisons such as USPs Leavenworth in Kansas and Lewisburg in Pennsylvania. In 1983, Silverstein managed to stab a corrections officer to death who had allegedly been harassing him and destroying his artwork. Just hours later, Fountain stabbed three officers, killing one, to catch up to Silverstein’s kill count (5).
These events led to a 23-year-long prison-wide lockdown at USP Marion. It also inspired the creation of ADX Florence, the first “supermax” prison and the site where many top members of the AB would eventually stay, including members of the commission and Silverstein himself. When Silverstein died in 2019, he had been under solitary confinement for 36 consecutive years, longer than any other prisoner in the US (10).
As members were released from prison, the AB began to expand its operations beyond prison walls. By the mid-1980s, the AB had established various criminal enterprises in cities across the United States (4). Members were instructed that their duties to the gang did not end once they left prison and the penalty for failing to “polish the rock” was death. The gang needed people to run drugs and contraband, carry out assassinations, set up fronts, conduct robberies for funding, and relay messages (2). This led to the AB’s trail of blood spilling out onto the streets, as their indiscriminate attitude towards murder did not end when members left prison. One member shot a police officer in the head with a shotgun six days after being released from Pelican Bay in 1995. Five years later, authorities discovered the gang’s plans to acquire a compound to serve as a headquarters, fully equipped with offices, a library, a garage, and recreational facilities (5).
In 1992, the Brotherhood was hired to protect Mob boss John Gotti of the Gambino crime family in exchange for one of Gotti’s lawyers to appeal Barry Mills’ murder case. The AB had long been allied with the American Mafia but the deal went sour when Gotti allegedly backed out and the Brotherhood subsequently stopped protecting him. But after he was attacked by another inmate at USP Marion, the very same prison that housed Clayton Fountain and Thomas Silverstein, he came back to the AB and regained their protection at a high price tag (12).
As the gang sought to consolidate power over the entire US prison system in the late 1990s, it escalated its rivalry with the D.C. Blacks into a full-scale race war. The commissioners, in spite of their strict supervision, authorized the war through coded letters. Authorities were eventually able to decode one message sent by T.D. Bingham to Barry Mills. Appearing to announce the birth of Bingham’s grandson, in reality it translated to “Confirm message from Chris to move on DC”. But by the time it was deciphered, two Black inmates had already been fatally stabbed at USP Lewisburg in Pennsylvania (9) (5).
After the AB’s run-in with the Mob, Mills wanted to become something of a don himself. He began to order hits based on personal transgressions without consulting the other members of the commission. At this time, the commission was being housed in solitary confinement in a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Eventually, commissioner John Greschner had enough and left the Brotherhood in 1999, testifying in a drug case against another senior member (4). In the process, he put himself ‘in the hat,’ meaning that he would likely be murdered if the Brotherhood tracked him down. Meanwhile, Mills was only ramping up the violence. The gang began building explosives to send to government facilities, but their plans were soon foiled when they gained some unwanted attention from federal prosecutors (5).
Law enforcement, despite all their efforts, found themselves unable to stop the AB’s reign of terror. But in 2002, six years of investigation by multiple federal agencies led to a massive indictment against the Brotherhood’s top brass that federal prosecutors hoped would stop the gang once and for all (13). Countless charges under the RICO act, including 32 murders were cited in the indictment (1). In all, 40 AB members were named in the 110-page indictment, 21 of whom were up for the death penalty including Mills and Bingham. Greschner, possibly thanks to his prior collaboration with prosecutors, was spared. Gregory Jessner, the attorney behind the indictment, said of the AB that “they may be the most murderous criminal organization in the United States” (5).
However, these indictments did little to sway the Brotherhood and only cemented its reputation as a gang of ruthless killers. Despite prosecutors’ talk in the media of dealing a final blow to the Brotherhood by handing out death sentences, they were unable to deliver as none of the defendants got the death penalty and they only received additional life sentences added onto the ones they were already serving (1).
Many of the veteran members of the Brotherhood that had presided over its rise to power began to die out in the years after the indictment. Clayton Fountain died in 2004, Mills in 2018, and Silverstein in 2019. Meanwhile, Michael Thompson was released in 2020 after spending 45 years behind bars, becoming an exceedingly rare case of someone who makes it both out of prison and the Brotherhood alive (14).
Objectives and Ideology
The Aryan Brotherhood holds a wide set of white supremacist views tailored to radicalize their members into becoming loyal warriors who will do anything for the gang. The gang is not as ideologically strict as other similar organizations, such as Aryan Nations, as its ideology only serves to further the gang’s goals as opposed to that of any concrete white supremacist doctrine. Members are made to read various books that have varying relevance to white supremacy, including Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and Machiavelli’s The Prince (a book that greatly influenced the well-read Mills himself) (8) (9). Furthermore, Friedrich Nietzsche is said to be a large influence on the group’s worldview for his views on morality and religion, but Micheal Thompson says the group “misinterprets” the philosopher (5). This alludes to the fact that the gang’s leadership twists these ideas in order to brainwash its typically poorly-educated members to blindly do the bidding of their superiors. Some of its more ideologically motivated members are even critical of the group’s activities that are seen as antithetical to white supremacy, such as collaborating with non-white gangs, allowing in mixed-race members, and selling drugs to white people (8).
Just as with its ideology, the Brotherhood’s religious affiliation is somewhat vague. Many members today are nominally followers of Asatru, a Norse neopagan religious movement, or Odinism, its white supremacist variant (3). During the 80s, the Brotherhood began a working relationship with Aryan Nations, a white supremacist group associated with the Christian Identity ethno-religious movement. Christian Identity espouses a strain of revisionist Christianity based on the belief that Celtic and Germanic ethnic groups are the true descendants of the Israelites and thus “God’s chosen people”. It also states that Jewish people are the spawn of Satan. Many AB members became followers of the Church of Jesus Christ-Christian, the Aryan Nations’ church, and would have the Nations’ literature smuggled into prisons (1). In the 1990s, the AB dropped Christian Identity for Odinism, due to the Brotherhood’s rejection of Christianity for its perceived weakness and association with Judaism (3). Much of the symbolism the gang uses is antithetical to Christianity, such as the 666 and pagan rune tattoos often seen on members (12).
Although the Brotherhood’s racist beliefs should not be underscored and the gang is definitely more ideologically concerned than most other prison gangs, these ideas primarily serve as a rallying point for the group as opposed to a motivator. They give its members the sense that they are a part of something larger than themselves, ensuring their loyalty and discretion with authorities. It also has the effect of radicalizing and empowering them, turning them into hardened killers (4). However, the AB is not absolute in its ideology and has been known to bend its own rules when convenient or profitable. For example, T.D. Bingham was part Jewish and had a Star of David tattoo alongside his swastika (5). As well, Michael Thompson is part Native American (14). The gang has also been known to collaborate with inmates of other races such as when the Brotherhood allied itself with Black Muslims and Gangster Disciples during a 1993 Easter Sunday riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (15).
Over the years, the Brotherhood has built up a notorious reputation. The gang’s infamy has turned them into something of a fascination in popular culture and the Brotherhood has been featured in many TV shows and movies like Oz, Miami Vice, and American History X.
Capabilities
When the Aryan Brotherhood was established, it only had around 40 members in San Quentin State Prison (16). Their numbers remained small, staying under 100 until the late 1970s when the gang began its rapid expansion across the US federal prison system. Today, there are some 20,000 total members and affiliates in and out of prison (8). However, they are still a relatively small gang compared to some of their allies and rivals, only accounting for about 1% of the US’ total federal and state prison population of 1,256,000 (17). Meanwhile, both Hispanic and African-American gangs typically outnumber the AB (which can be partially attributed to the over-incarceration of racial minorities within American prisons). What makes the Brotherhood particularly dangerous is not its size, but its high capacity for violence and rigorous selection process for new members. According to the FBI, it is responsible for roughly 18% of murders within prisons (1). To compensate for its relatively small number of made members, the Brotherhood has many smaller, less powerful white gangs who are loyal to them.
Law enforcement officials have had a particularly difficult time dealing with the gang due to the fact that their leaders simply have nothing to lose. Members serving life sentences are undeterred by the threat of further prosecution and the organization has developed an advanced system of codes and secret messages to circumvent the surveillance and confinement of their members (1). Most attempts to limit the power of the gang have only had the opposite effect, as their expansion into federal prisons across the US was largely due to law enforcement’s attempts to split up concentrations of the gang in Californian prisons. Furthermore, those who go against the gang in any capacity risk not only their own murder but also that of their families as well, making it difficult for law enforcement to find anyone willing to speak up (5).
Since the 1980s, the Brotherhood has been organized in a hierarchical fashion inspired by other organized crime groups like the Mafia. At the top is a three-man commission that presides over a council of up to 12 responsible for handling practical matters. Seasoned members who occupy leadership positions within individual prisons are referred to as “shot callers”. They are in charge of managing their soldiers, initiating prospects, and handling the gang’s activities within their prison (12).
Approach to Resistance
The language the Aryan Brotherhood speaks is violence. It does not shy away from using wanton violence as a means to reinforce its power. Because of members’ unwavering loyalty to the gang and an absence of fear of death or prosecution, they are known to kill often and without remorse. Its members’ preferred method of murder is stabbing their victims repetitively, and new members are trained in human anatomy in order to make them more deadly (5). This not only serves as an effective tactic but also leaves a gruesome message to other inmates. Upon entering a new prison, the gang’s goal is to assert its dominance, both to its potential allies and rivals. This often comes in the form of a public display of violence to show the other inmates that they are not to be trifled with. This is also how the Brotherhood manages to take over other smaller white gangs (4). Once established in a prison, the gang will begin to murder its own enemies or those who commission them. However, the gang has been known to be liberal with their use of violence and any perceived slight to the AB can land someone “in the hat”. In order to create a climate of fear to prevent anyone from interfering in its operations, the AB will kill any correctional officer, and even their family, if they step up to the gang (2).
Despite their focus on being a criminal enterprise before a hate group, AB members have nonetheless been responsible for both hate and ideologically motivated crimes. Members in and outside of prison have been known to commit murders because of the victim’s race. Lawrence Brewer and John King, two members of the Brotherhood who met while serving time in Texas, and another individual murdered James Byrd Jr. by dragging him behind a truck. The two showed no remorse for the murder of Byrd, a Black man, and the proceeding trial determined that Brewer and King were motivated by hate (1). As well, David Frank Jennings, an AB member, murdered Earl Krugel of the ultranationalist terror group known as the Jewish Defence League. Krugel, who had just arrived at prison three days prior for conspiring to bomb a mosque, was struck in the head with a brick by Jennings while working out (18). Additionally, the organization has allegedly attempted to plan bombings on federal government targets (1). The gang has been known to target sex offenders and if a new inmate was found to be one, they are likely to be assaulted or killed (14)
Caption: Richard Kuykendall, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, shoots and kills three other members of the Brotherhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico on May 12th, 2021. Prior to the shooting, Kuykendall had been arrested 35 times. A pistol belonging to one of the victims was found in the car and Kuykendall drove the car to a nearby hospital after the shooting (20).
Besides murder, the AB operates a number of criminal enterprises. One of its primary streams of income is from drugs, mostly methamphetamine and heroin. Drugs are a particularly lucrative business for the gang given their high demand in prisons (2). The AB smuggles in drugs and other contraband to supply itself. It has been known to often use its members’ girlfriends or to extort weaker inmates to get their families to deliver drugs while visiting. Additionally, the AB pimps out inmates, sometimes in exchange for protection. The gang does not like to share with its competitors, so others that are operating a business in a prison that the gang operates in, whether it be gambling, drugs, or other such ventures, are expected to pay a tax to the Brotherhood. The penalty for failing to do so can be death. It is able to bring in anywhere between hundreds of thousands to a million dollars a year from one single prison, making it an extremely profitable enterprise (5).
Outside of prison, the gang sets up legitimate businesses such as garages and clubs to launder money through. Street bosses manage these fronts while also procuring drugs and contraband to smuggle into prison and facilitating communications between the inside and the outside. They use switchboards with coded messages in order to keep the gang’s operations clandestine (4). Upon their release, members have been seen to gather in rural areas where methamphetamines are popular (19).
The gang has developed a complex system of codes, borrowing codes invented by the likes of Sir Francis Bacon and the French Resistance during the Second World War (5). To get around law enforcement, the AB has also sent letters written in invisible ink made with urine, bribed guards to deliver messages, and subpoenaed members to deliver secret messages to them in court (2). Girlfriends and lawyers have also been used to communicate messages (2). This is how the gang has been able to continue to operate despite the fact that many of its leaders are permanently in solitary confinement.
Prospective members undergo an initiation process during which they swear an oath to the gang and commit a murder in order to “make their bones” (5). The pledge that new members recite states “For an Aryan brother, death holds no fear, vengeance will be his, through his brothers still here”, serving as a testament to the Brotherhood’s brutal loyalty (12). Once a member officially joins, they would receive a “brand”, a tattoo representing the gang. Popular tattoos include swastikas, pagan runes, 666s, shamrocks, and other Celtic imagery (8). “The Brand” is an alias for the gang, referencing the title of a cowboy novel by Louis L’Amour popular among AB members, while the Rock, another alias, comes from the shamrock tattoos that many members have, calling back to the gang’s Irish roots (12). ‘Polishing the rock’ refers to the gang’s policy of continuing gang activity and taking care of incarcerated members once one is released from prison (1). Once one becomes a member of the Aryan Brotherhood they are so for life, as its “blood in, blood out” motto declares. “Blood in” refers to the gang’s initiation ritual while “blood out” means that there’s only one way out of the gang: death (12).
Relations and Alliances
The Aryan Brotherhood has been rubbing shoulders with the most prominent and dangerous prison gangs in the USA since its inception. Its major rivals are Black gangs like the Black Guerilla Family and the D.C. Blacks. These rivalries are not strictly racial but also serve to consolidate its power. The gang has started multiple ‘race wars’ with other gangs, primarily to eliminate their competition. Meanwhile, the gang has a mixed relationship with Hispanic prison gangs. They are longtime allies of the Mexican Mafia, also known as “La Eme”, who drew the Brotherhood into a war with their rivals, La Nuestra Familia (2). La Eme is also affiliated with the Mafia and the Hell’s Angels along with the Brotherhood, as well as various Mexican drug cartels (3).
The gang has collaborated with other organized crime syndicates like the Hell’s Angels and the American Mafia to further their enterprises outside of prison. The Brotherhood has been paid to protect mobsters and carry out their hits in prison. In exchange, the Brotherhood has received assistance setting up drug manufacturing operations and other illegal operations on the outside. While the Brotherhood runs the show in many prisons, the Mafia has access to resources like fronts and connections in various industries that the Brotherhood has used to expand its operations (2).
The Brotherhood has been known to recruit from smaller white gangs such as skinhead and motorcycle gangs and has several smaller, less powerful gangs who pay tribute to them, such as the Nazi Lowriders and Public Enemy No. 1 (4). These subsidiary gangs are known as “Peckerwoods”, referring to a derogatory term for poor whites in the rural Southern United States (1).
During the 1980s, the Brotherhood began to build relationships with neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations outside of prison, perhaps most notably Aryan Nations (1). The gang has also been connected to other such white supremacist groups outside of prison, including the Order, a white supremacist terrorist group who sought to create a white ethnostate in the northwestern United States. The Order also followed the Christian Identity doctrine (13).
There are several gangs, such as the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and the Aryan Circle, who have been inspired by the AB. These gangs mimic the structure, practices, activities, and symbolism of the Brotherhood. They are mostly tolerated due to the fact that they are dwarfed by the Brotherhood and do not pose a serious threat to it (13).
The gang has had a mixed relationship with prison guards. While it has not been afraid to target guards as well as inmates, some guards hold sympathy for the Brotherhood as they are seen to maintain order within prisons that guards can’t (2). Some guards have even been found to be affiliated with the Brotherhood and have served the gang by smuggling contraband into prisons, delivering messages, and looking the other way (5).
Additional Resources
"How an Aryan Brotherhood Prison-Gang General Became a Snitch", Seth Ferranti for VICE News (2015) (https://www.vice.com/en/article/av4pgj/how-an-aryan-brotherhood-prison-gang-general-became-a-snitch-105)
History Channel Documentary "Gangland: Aryan Brotherhood" (2007)
Works Cited.
(1) - Holthouse, D. (2005, October 14). Leaders of Racist Prison Gang Aryan Brotherhood Face Federal Indictment. Intelligence Report. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2005/leaders-racist-prison-gang-aryan-brotherhood-face-federal-indictment
(2) - Federal Bureau of Investigation. Aryan Brotherhood. https://vault.fbi.gov/Aryan%20Brotherhood%20/Aryan%20Brotherhood%20Part%201%20of%201/view
(3) - Newton, M. (2005). Encyclopedia of Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories. Infobase Learning.
(4) - Holthouse, D. (2012, November 11). Former ‘Commissioner’ John Greschner Discusses Life and Death in the Aryan Brotherhood. Intelligence Report. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2012/former-‘commissioner’-john-greschner-discusses-life-and-death-aryan-brotherhood
(5) - Grann, D. (2010). The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of murder, Madness, and Obsession. Doubleday.
(6) - Useem, B., & Kimball, P. A. (1987). A Theory of Prison Riots. Theory and Society, 16(1), 87–122. http://www.jstor.org/stable/657079
(7) - Silva, D. (2013, October 15). Charles Manson and the Aryan Brotherhood. Manson Family Blog. https://www.mansonblog.com/2013/10/charles-manson-and-aryan-brotherhood.html
(8) - Southern Poverty Law Center. (n.d.). Aryan Brotherhood. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/aryan-brotherhood
(9) - Ferranti, S. (2018, March 18). The Life of an Aryan Brotherhood Shot Caller. Gorilla Convict. https://www.gorillaconvict.com/2018/03/the-life-of-an-aryan-brotherhood-shot-caller/
(10) - Peters, J. (2013, October 23). How a 1983 Murder Helped Create America’s Terrible Supermax-Prison Culture. Slate. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/10/marion-prison-lockdown-thomas-silverstein-how-a-1983-murder-created-america-s-terrible-supermax-prison-culture.html
(11) - Paul Jones, W. (2012, January 14). Clayton A. Fountain: The Murderer Who Became a Monk. Huffington Post. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/clayton-a-fountain-the-murderer-who-became-a-monk_b_1199226
(12) - Brook, J. L. (2011). Blood In Blood Out: The Violent Empire of the Aryan Brotherhood. Headpress.
(13) - Montaldo, C. (2016). The Aryan Brotherhood. Crime Magazine. https://web.archive.org/web/20160721073746/http://crime.about.com/od/gangsters/a/aryanbrothers.htm#
(14) - djvlad (2022, September 17). Former Aryan Brotherhood Leader Michael Thompson Tells His Life Story [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxVm2AOeN4E
(15) - Pfeifer, P. E. (2005, May 18). The Lucasville Prison Riot. The Supreme Court of Ohio. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032632/http://www.supremecourtofohio.gov/SCO/justices/pfeifer/column/2005/jp051805.asp
(16) - Jewish Telegraphic Agency (1967, January 23). Hard-core American Nazis Seen Entrenched in California Penitentiary. https://www.jta.org/archive/hard-core-american-nazis-seen-entrenched-in-california-penitentiary
(17) - Prison Policy Initiative (2023, March 14). New report: Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2023 shows that as the pandemic subsides, criminal legal system returning to “business as usual”. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2023/03/14/whole_pie_2023/
(18) - LawFuel (2008, March 14). US Attorney – Federal Inmate Sentenced On Brutal Murder of Fellow Inmate. http://www.lawfuel.com/us-attorney-federal-inmate-sentenced-on-brutal-murder-of-fellow-inmate/
(19) - Rastogi, N. S. (2009, May 5). The Six Flavors of White Supremacy. Slate. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/05/categorizing-white-supremacists.html
(20) - Peiser, J. (2021, May 17). A man left a bullet-riddled car with three dead men inside it at the ER. They were all in the Aryan Brotherhood, feds say. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/17/kuykendall-aryan-brotherhood-hospital-albuquerque/