Rasp
Senior Editor
Aryan Brotherhood documentary airs Sunday (4 Mar.)
PRISONS -- Beyond white power
It was born in a maximum security California prison more than four decades ago - a white supremacist group whose mission was to control the criminal underworld from behind bars.
Today it is one of the most violent and brutal gangs with a reach that extends to dozens of federal and state prisons across the nation - and into our neighborhoods.
While few in numbers (less than .1 percent of the prison population), the Aryan Brotherhood is responsible for 20 percent of the slayings in prison, according to estimates from the Federal Bureau of Prisons cited by "Explorer: Aryan Brotherhood," a documentary airing on the National Geographic Channel at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Aryan Brotherhood members featured in "Explorer: Aryan Brotherhood": Michael Thompson, Casper Odinson Crowell, John Greschner and Bob Overton.
"Their level of sophistication in many cases goes beyond what most of us can comprehend," says Todd Negola, director of Forensic Psychological Research for the National Gang Crime Research Center. "They live in a life behind prison walls and they are still able to understand the system at such a complex level they are able to continue criminal activity and the use of power to influence others."
Through interviews with former members, Explorer uncovers the inner workings of the sophisticated and clandestine criminal enterprise also known as "The Brand," which has been implicated in drug trafficking, extortion and gambling in federal and state prisons and outside the prison system as well.
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WHITE SUPREMACISTS?
Prisons are perhaps one of the most voluntarily segregated places in the country; the races don't mingle.
But the AB has Jewish members and is affiliated with the Mexican mafia, which makes them different from other prison gangs and even street gangs, such as the Bloods and the Crips, says Anthony Delgado, the Security Threat Group Investigation Coordinator with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
"They will work with a lot of different groups," he says. "Plus membership-wise they tend to make more of an impact with fewer numbers."
The AB is a white supremacist group though, he says. But he says the savage gang uses that more as a marketing tool to recruit members. Its main goal is to control the prison economy, says Delgado, whether it's smuggling alcohol, drugs, cigarettes or gambling operations. It resorts to extreme violence to do that.
"They were born out of racial hatred," says Kathleen Cromley, executive producer of the documentary. "That was their message and what brought them together in the first place. But they have really transcended that and are into criminal activity as much as racial hatred."
Casper Odinson Crowell's tattoos, as shown on "Explorer: Aryan Brotherhod."
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THE PRISON ENVIRONMENT
Does the prison environment create killers?
"I think it's a reversal," says Negola. "I think that you have a select group of people, highly criminal minded, whether on the streets or in prison, who want to continue to live a lifestyle that's satisfying to them."
The inmates are slick with their communication, tapping out Morse code on toilets in their cells, passing notes written in invisible ink made from urine, using family and friends to pass demands. Gang members hang out together in the yard, chow time, sometimes living in dorms with endless rows of beds and passing notes to each other, says Negola.
Negola says when one gets out, he recruits members on the street. If he gets arrested again in another state where there is no AB chapter, he starts one.
"They're into demonstrating power," says Cromley. "In prisons, demonstrating power is what fuels the prison population. The AB has taken it upon themselves to be the most feared, most powerful, and they are few in number, which makes them mysterious and unique."
Michael Thompson works out in his cell.
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BRINGING THEM DOWN
So how do you bring down a deadly criminal empire?
Most of the members are psychopaths, beyond rehabilitation, with no remorse for their crimes or even sadness about being in prison, says Negola. Since so many are serving a life sentence, there is no deterrent and no benefit to sharing information about their group's activities.
Two of the leaders were convicted earlier this year of plotting at least six murders from behind bars. They face life in prison without the possibility of parole when they are sentenced in May. One was already serving a life sentence for another murder. The other had been in prison since 1970 and was to have been eligible for parole in several years.
But it took 10 years of work to do this.
"The belief has been that if you can sort of chop off the head of the animal, the animal should die," says Negola. "I think that's what the documentary shows - the efforts and great lengths that law enforcement professionals have gone to to bring this agency down. The hope is by removing these two great leaders of the AB, that maybe the influence will diminish."
---
PRISONS -- Beyond white power
It was born in a maximum security California prison more than four decades ago - a white supremacist group whose mission was to control the criminal underworld from behind bars.
Today it is one of the most violent and brutal gangs with a reach that extends to dozens of federal and state prisons across the nation - and into our neighborhoods.
While few in numbers (less than .1 percent of the prison population), the Aryan Brotherhood is responsible for 20 percent of the slayings in prison, according to estimates from the Federal Bureau of Prisons cited by "Explorer: Aryan Brotherhood," a documentary airing on the National Geographic Channel at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Aryan Brotherhood members featured in "Explorer: Aryan Brotherhood": Michael Thompson, Casper Odinson Crowell, John Greschner and Bob Overton.
"Their level of sophistication in many cases goes beyond what most of us can comprehend," says Todd Negola, director of Forensic Psychological Research for the National Gang Crime Research Center. "They live in a life behind prison walls and they are still able to understand the system at such a complex level they are able to continue criminal activity and the use of power to influence others."
Through interviews with former members, Explorer uncovers the inner workings of the sophisticated and clandestine criminal enterprise also known as "The Brand," which has been implicated in drug trafficking, extortion and gambling in federal and state prisons and outside the prison system as well.
---
WHITE SUPREMACISTS?
Prisons are perhaps one of the most voluntarily segregated places in the country; the races don't mingle.
But the AB has Jewish members and is affiliated with the Mexican mafia, which makes them different from other prison gangs and even street gangs, such as the Bloods and the Crips, says Anthony Delgado, the Security Threat Group Investigation Coordinator with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
"They will work with a lot of different groups," he says. "Plus membership-wise they tend to make more of an impact with fewer numbers."
The AB is a white supremacist group though, he says. But he says the savage gang uses that more as a marketing tool to recruit members. Its main goal is to control the prison economy, says Delgado, whether it's smuggling alcohol, drugs, cigarettes or gambling operations. It resorts to extreme violence to do that.
"They were born out of racial hatred," says Kathleen Cromley, executive producer of the documentary. "That was their message and what brought them together in the first place. But they have really transcended that and are into criminal activity as much as racial hatred."
Casper Odinson Crowell's tattoos, as shown on "Explorer: Aryan Brotherhod."
---
THE PRISON ENVIRONMENT
Does the prison environment create killers?
"I think it's a reversal," says Negola. "I think that you have a select group of people, highly criminal minded, whether on the streets or in prison, who want to continue to live a lifestyle that's satisfying to them."
The inmates are slick with their communication, tapping out Morse code on toilets in their cells, passing notes written in invisible ink made from urine, using family and friends to pass demands. Gang members hang out together in the yard, chow time, sometimes living in dorms with endless rows of beds and passing notes to each other, says Negola.
Negola says when one gets out, he recruits members on the street. If he gets arrested again in another state where there is no AB chapter, he starts one.
"They're into demonstrating power," says Cromley. "In prisons, demonstrating power is what fuels the prison population. The AB has taken it upon themselves to be the most feared, most powerful, and they are few in number, which makes them mysterious and unique."
Michael Thompson works out in his cell.
---
BRINGING THEM DOWN
So how do you bring down a deadly criminal empire?
Most of the members are psychopaths, beyond rehabilitation, with no remorse for their crimes or even sadness about being in prison, says Negola. Since so many are serving a life sentence, there is no deterrent and no benefit to sharing information about their group's activities.
Two of the leaders were convicted earlier this year of plotting at least six murders from behind bars. They face life in prison without the possibility of parole when they are sentenced in May. One was already serving a life sentence for another murder. The other had been in prison since 1970 and was to have been eligible for parole in several years.
But it took 10 years of work to do this.
"The belief has been that if you can sort of chop off the head of the animal, the animal should die," says Negola. "I think that's what the documentary shows - the efforts and great lengths that law enforcement professionals have gone to to bring this agency down. The hope is by removing these two great leaders of the AB, that maybe the influence will diminish."
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