Years active 1980s–present | Ethnicity White | |
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Territory Texas Prison SystemNew Mexico Prison System Criminal activities Murder, assault, drug trafficking, extortion, racketeering, arms trafficking, hate crimes, dog fighting, fraud, human trafficking | ||
According to the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) is one of the largest and most violent white supremacist prison gangs in the United States, responsible for numerous murders and other violent crimes.
Contents
Despite the similarity in their names, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas is not affiliated with the “original” Aryan Brotherhood, the notorious prison gang founded in California in the 1960s and existing primarily in California and the federal prison systems.
In the 80s when the original Aryan Brotherhood was formed in San Quentin, a group of Texas inmates asked for permission to start a chapter in TX, though the Aryan Brotherhood denied their request but the TX inmates formed it anyway. The ABT was nonetheless established in the 1980s, following the desegregation of Texas prisons and the dismantling of the "Building Tender", or Trusty system, a system in which prison officials used other inmates to help maintain order in the prisons. These major and more or less simultaneous changes created an atmosphere of uncertainty and a lack of control that proved fertile breeding grounds for black, Hispanic and white race-based prison gangs. These gangs soon became the top predators in the Texas prison system.
The various white gangs, with names like the Aryan Society and the Aryan Brothers, mostly adopted a relatively crude white supremacist ideology. In the early to mid-1980s, most of the members of these two gangs united to become the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, while others left out of the merger later helped form the rival Aryan Circle prison gang. From its beginning, the ABT emerged as one of the most violent gangs in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, committing 13 murders in 1984–85 alone.
History
In March 1985, prospect Virgil Barfield carried out an Aryan Brotherhood of Texas order to kill Calvin Massey. Barfield stabbed Massey 42 times. The violent attack was caught on camera. The video clip helped prosecutors convict Barfield for the murder of Massey. Virgil Barfield was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2001, Mark Stroman received the death penalty for his killing spree on Middle Eastern people. He claimed it was in retaliation for the September 11 terrorist attacks. However all three of his targets were of South Asian descent.
On September 21, 2006, gang members of the ABT, were charged with the death of a young woman named Breanna Taylor. According to investigations conducted by the authorities, Taylor was tortured, sexually assaulted, and murdered by ABT gang members. After she was killed, they poured acid on her body, and then put her body in a tub, poured cement on it and dumped it into a river. Dale Jameton pleaded guilty and received a life sentence, and Jennifer McClellan was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In 2011, Terry Sillers, a former General in the ABT gang, was arrested after leading police on a wild motorcycle chase near Fort Worth. In exchange for cooperating with authorities against a gang that he says betrayed him, he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
Ranking structure
The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas is run by 5 Generals, collectively known as the "Steering Committee", or "The Wheel". Each General is given control over a number of prisons within the Texas Department of Corrections. Each prison unit with members is assigned a unit Captain, who in turn assigns a Senior Lieutenant and a Junior Lieutenant. The Junior Lieutenant is the lowest official rank within the ABT, though on larger units, the junior Lieutenant may appoint Sergeants to assist him in the day-to-day affairs of the gang on the unit.
This ranking structure had numerous exceptions.
During the mid 1990s, in an effort to free the members of the ABT from Administrative Segregation, the gang changed its name to "Texas Aryan Brotherhood - Church of Aryan Christian Heritage" (TAB-COACH). The belief being that in so doing it could reinvent itself as a religious organization and receive a 501 (c) 3 tax exemption status from the Federal Government. This attempt was orchestrated by Riley Ray Fultz and Bobby Adams who also named themselves the President and Vice-President of the organization.
In 1998, having survived the TAB-COACH experiment, the ABT restructured under a new Constitution and named a new "Steering Committee". This consisted of the normal 5 Generals but with one new distinction. That being the assignment of titles that dictated the roles to be played inside the organization. The author of the new Constitution and By-laws "Russell (Jesse James) Kloskin" became the new President with a Vice-President, Chief of Staff, and two Deputy Directors following.
Finally, this structure was deviated from when Frankie "Pancho" Roach was named the "Chairman" of the ABT, thus retiring the title of President.
Prospects
The Prospect, or prospective member is someone under the protection of the ABT, responsible for following any/all direct orders given by an active member, who is being considered for membership into the organization. While they technically do not have a voice in the organization, they are nevertheless treated with the same respect as active members by outsiders.
Typically, whenever there is "dirty work" to be done, such as an assault or murder, more often than not, prospects are used. When the prospect is utilized in such a way, it is often referred to as "earning one's bones".