Posted on 07/28/2006 6:33:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
A jury convicted four alleged leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang Friday on charges of murder, conspiracy and racketeering in a federal case aimed at dismantling the violent white supremacist organization.
The four defendants did not show any reaction when the verdicts were read in a 15-minute proceeding. Most jurors, who deliberated for two weeks, either looked down or away from the defendants.
The trial is part of one of the largest federal capital cases, with more than a dozen people potentially facing the death penalty. More defendants face trials in Los Angeles later this year.
Barry "The Baron" Mills, Tyler "The Hulk" Bingham, Edgar "The Snail" Hevle and Christopher Overton Gibson were all convicted under Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, and offenses known as Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering. The so-called VICAR verdicts make Mills and Bingham eligible for the death penalty.
Mills, Bingham and Hevle were also convicted of a count of murder for the killing of Arva Lee Ray, a prisoner slain at the Lompoc, Calif., penitentiary in 1989. Gibson was not charged with that count.
Mills and Bingham were acquitted of a count of murder for the death of inmate William McKinney, a former Aryan Brotherhood member who was struck with a weight bar at Lompoc in 1993. The other two defendants weren't charged with that count.
The death penalty phase against Mills and Bingham was scheduled to begin Aug. 15 in front of the same jury. Sentencing for Hevle and Gibson was set for Oct. 23. They face 20 years to life in prison.
"We're disappointed and now we move on to the next phase," said Mark Fleming, Mills' lawyer.
Hevle's attorney, Bernard Rosen, said he was "shocked." He said there was little evidence against his client.
The government's indictment laid out a sweeping case of plots to kill rivals and even fellow brotherhood members to control drug dealing and other criminal enterprises behind bars.
During the four-month trial before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, the jury of eight men and four women heard testimony from a parade of killers, former gang members and jailhouse informants about murders and attempted murders over three decades.
Some testified they had been involved in murder plots hatched by the gang to kill those who violated its rules.
Defense attorneys countered in closing arguments that prosecutors had built their case on a "parade of perjurers" who were promised money and reduced prison sentences for their testimony.
They said the defendants had to seek membership in the gang as a way to survive in violent, dangerous prisons.
The complexity of the case was illustrated by the verdict form. The panel had to answer nearly 80 questions involving eight murders, eight attempted murders and drug trafficking. Most of the killings were covered under racketeering law - questions referred to "acts involving murder" - rather than as specific murder counts.
Mills, 57, and Bingham, 51, were each accused of two counts of murder, and multiple other murders and attempted murders as elements of racketeering.
The latter included the deaths of two black gang members during a 1997 riot at a prison in Lewisburg, Pa. The government said the two defendants incited the riot through secret messages to Aryan Brotherhood members.
Hevle, 54, faced one count of murder and other acts involving murder as elements of racketeering.
Gibson, 46, was accused under racketeering law.
In detailed decisions on the main count, a broad RICO allegation, the jury found Mills guilty of violating 13 sections. Bingham had seven and Gibson had two. All defendants were convicted of count two, conspiracy to commit RICO, and all were convicted under two VICAR counts under theories of either aiding and abetting or being a co-conspirator.
Since its founding in 1964 at San Quentin in California, the Aryan Brotherhood has infiltrated nearly every federal and state prison and devised a number of means for members to stay in touch.
In the current case, government witnesses testified about a secret note, written in invisible ink made from urine, that was passed from Bingham's high-security cell in Florence, Colo., to Lewisburg, Pa., where the race war occurred. The note read: "War with DC Blacks, TD."
Prosecutors argued that it was an order to incite a race war at the Pennsylvania facility. Defense attorneys said the note was merely a warning to other gang members after tension between the brotherhood and the D.C. Blacks at a prison in Marion, Ill.
Some witnesses testified about a plot to kill an inmate who had assaulted mob leader John Gotti in prison. Testimony indicated Gotti had paid the brotherhood for protection.
One witness said Gotti offered to pay $500,000 for the hit; another testified that he had been passed bullets to hide until the gang could fashion a zip gun with which to shoot Gotti's attacker.
The hit never occurred. Gotti died in prison in 2002.
During the trial, the feet of the defendants were chained to the floor - something hidden from the jury by a high wooden panel. The judge also ordered all inmate witnesses to be chained to the floor as well to prevent fights.
Mills is currently serving two life terms for murder after nearly decapitating an inmate. Bingham is behind bars on robbery and drug charges.
Prosecutors spent six years compiling evidence and relied on informants for much of their case.
Court documents suggest that patient gang members waited months to carry out the violent tasks ordered by their leaders, passing information from prison to prison and member to member using friends and spouses on the outside, corrupt prison guards and notes written with invisible ink.
The verdict was in sharp contrast to an earlier Aryan Brotherhood case which featured many of the same inmate witnesses as the current one: The seven-month trial of David Michael Sahakian and two others in Illinois ended in 2004 with a hung jury on the main charges of murder and conspiracy.
Some jurors in that case said they found the jailhouse informants who testified to be disgusting but called the defendants "charming and truthful."
Sahakian will be retried as part of the racketeering case in one of the Los Angeles trials.
Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School and a former federal prosecutor who tried prison murder cases, said Friday's outcome would boost the prosecution's morale as the next trials approach.
"The RICO let them present a lot more evidence than they would otherwise present," she said. "Also, as time goes on, I think the public becomes more aware when it comes to the issue of prison gangs. They understand that these things may be happening behind bars."
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Associated Press Writer Gillian Flaccus contributed to this report.
Good
I wonder how hard these same authorities are working at dismantling the Black Panthers or the Nation of Islam, both of which are black supremacist organizations.
Fry them all. Don't shed a lot of tears for these guys just because they are white and no blacks gang members are currently facing the death penalty. These scum wont be missed.
Oh, I don't, believe me. These guys are cesspool slime. But it's odd how race crimes and bigotry never seem to get any attention unless they're directed by whites toward others. When the situation is reversed, nobody seems to notice.
I believe the media and public officials do notice and choose to turn a blind eye to it. They have no concept of equity and judging a man/woman based on his actions. Scum come in all colors, but many feel only the white scum are worthy of political points.
I believe the media and public officials do notice and choose to turn a blind eye to it. They have no concept of equity and judging a man/woman based on his actions. Scum come in all colors, but many feel only the white scum are worthy of political points.
Actually, they've been cracking down hard on prison gangs. They've hit the nuestra familia hard in operation black widow a few years ago. Same with the mexican mafia. Aryan brotherhood is like an organized crime syndicate in prison along those lines, so they also get hammered.
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