California Aryan Brotherhood members sentenced to consecutive life terms for murder, racketeering
Two California members of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang were sentenced Wednesday to consecutive life sentences in federal prison for murder in aid of racketeering and other crimes committed while they were incarcerated in a Sacramento-area prison, authorities said.
Ronald Yandell, a leader of the neo-Nazi prison gang, was convicted of ordering two inmates to murder another inmate in 2015 at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom State Prison. The 62-year-old Yandell of Pinole, Contra Costa County, had offered the two inmates membership in the Aryan Brotherhood if they were able to kill a member of a rival prison gang, Hugo Pinell, according to court records.
Pinell, a member of the Black Guerilla Family gang, was one of the infamous San Quentin 6 - inmates charged following a deadly escape attempt in 1971. Court records stated that before his murder, Pinell openly antagonized Aryan Brotherhood members with racist opinions and provocative statements and was considered "a high-value target for the enterprise."
Intercepted cellphone calls
About a year after the murder, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency intercepted calls made by Yandell on a contraband cellphone in which he bragged about directing the murders and sponsoring the killers for membership in the gang, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California.
Yandell, who was serving 65 years to life for murder and voluntary manslaughter, also directed that money earned from the gang's criminal activities be directed to support the two murderers, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
He was sentenced to two life terms plus 50 years.
William Sylvester was also sentenced after being convicted of murdering another inmate at CSP-Sacramento to earn his own membership to the Aryan Brotherhood. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the 56-year-old Sylvester of Norco, Riverside County, killed the inmate because he was a member of a rival gang that refused to recognize the Aryan Brotherhood's authority.
Sylvester, currently serving a life sentence without parole, and another inmate carried out the attack while in an extremely restrictive prison environment after substantial planning, using prison-made shanks to stab the victim multiple times, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
In April 2024, a federal jury found Yandell, Sylvester, and co-defendant Danny Troxell, 71, guilty of RICO conspiracy, conspiracy to murder, murder in aid of racketeering, and multiple counts of drug trafficking following a nine-week trial. Troxell will be sentenced on February 18, 2025.
Attempted homicide on prison guards alleged
Yandell is also being investigated for allegedly attacking two prison guards who had escorted him to a medical appointment last month. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Yandell drew an improvised knife on the guards as he was being taken back to his cell. One of the guards subdued him with pepper spray and no one was injured, the CDCR said.
The case was referred to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.
Before he was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller, Yandell rose to address Mueller and denied the crimes, saying prison officials targeted him for retaliation after he participated in a 2013 hunger strike at the state's notorious Pelican Bay solitary confinement unit, the Sacramento Bee reported.
In court Wednesday, Yandell and his lawyer cited an email from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who wrote that upon learning of Yandell's participation in the hunger strike, "I want to crush him so bad, my teeth hurt," the Bee reported.
Attorney Steven Kalar said he planned to appeal both the verdict and the sentence against Yandell.
Aryan Brotherhood prison gang activities
Between 2011 and 2016, Aryan Brotherhood members and associates at California prisons engaged in racketeering activity, committing multiple acts involving murder, conspiracies to murder, and drug trafficking crimes, according to court documents. Evidence showed that gang members oversaw a major heroin and methamphetamine trafficking operation from their prison cells with the drugs distributed on the streets of Sacramento and other California cities. Inmates used cellphones to direct their drug activities, order murders, and oversee other crimes inside and outside of prisons, prosecutors said.
The Aryan Brotherhood gang formed within California state prisons in the late 1960s and has since spread across the federal prison system. It has an estimated 15,000-20,000 members both inside and outside prisons and authorities have spent decades trying to bring down the organization.
Prosecutors have sought to move the most violent and influential gang members out of California's state prison system and into more restrictive federal prison units.
It was not clear when Yandell and Sylvester would be moved from CSP-Sacramento to a federal prison.