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 execute the killing, according to court records.
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.
Ronald Yandell, William Sylvester California Department of Corrections and RehabilitationSylvester 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.
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.
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.
Attorney Steven Kalar said he planned to appeal both the verdict and the sentence against Yandell.
Aryan Brotherhood prison gang activities
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.
It was not clear when Yandell and Sylvester would be moved from CSP-Sacramento to a federal prison.
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