WASHINGTON— Federal grand juries in two states handed down indictments to 25 violent “whites only” prison gangs who have members operating inside and outside the prison walls, officials announced Friday.
Fourteen alleged members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Mississippi, including four of its most senior leaders, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Mississippi for conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise. In a separate indictment out of Oklahoma, 11 alleged members and associates of the Universal Aryan Brotherhood of Oklahoma were also charged with similar crimes.
“These charges resulted from an unprecedented collaboration of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers targeting a large scale prison gang involved in violent organized crime throughout the state of Mississippi,” said U.S. Attorney Felicia Adams.
Adding, “This indictment represents a critical first step toward dismantling this violent organization and clearly signals that the United States Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners have an unwavering commitment to hold those individuals accountable who insist on creating an atmosphere of violence and fear in our communities.”
A report by the National Gang Intelligence, which was established in 2005, states: “On the streets, prison gangs employ street gangs to control neighborhoods on their behalf; in this capacity, street gangs run illicit activities as drug sales and distribution, taxation of other criminal activities and taxation of legitimate businesses that operate within their territory.”
According to the indictments, the Aryan Brotherhood of Mississippi or ABM and Universal Aryan Brotherhood of Oklahoma or UAB gangs allegedly modeled themselves after the Aryan Brotherhood, a California-based prison gang that was formed in the California prison system during the 1960s.
The ABM was allegedly founded in 1984, and in early 2013, pursued unification with the Aryan Brotherhood of California to get national recognition, officials said.
The ABM allegedly has a uniform organizational structure divided into three separate geographic areas of control. The state is overseen and directed by a three-member “wheel” commonly referred to as “spokes.” The wheel has ultimate authority in all gang matters
The indictment charges four alleged leaders or “wheel” members with participating in racketeering and other felony crimes:
- Frank Owens, Jr, 44, aka “State Raised,” of D’Iberville, Mississippi;
- Perry Mask, 46, of Corinth, Mississippi
- Stephen Hubanks, 45, of Rienzi, Mississippi
- Brandon Creel, 46, aka “Oak,” of Ellisville, Mississippi
The indictment also charges 10 other alleged members of the ABM. All 14 alleged members of the ABM are charged with conspiracy to participate in the racketeering activities of the gang and with involvement in murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, money laundering, firearms trafficking and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
“There is no doubt the Aryan Brotherhood are a bunch of racists but when it comes down to business, the color that matters isn’t black or brown or white – it’s green,” prison gang expert, Tony Delgado, is quoted in a Southern Poverty Law Cent report about the Aryan Brotherhood.