White Supremacist Prison Gangs in the United States | Page 19

White Supremacist Prison Gangs Overview
Origins
The first known prison gangs emerged in the United States in the 1950s in states such as Washington and California,
followed by gangs in other states. From the beginning, a number of these prison gangs were race-based, such as the
Mexican Mafia. However, it was the formation of the Aryan Brotherhood in California in the 1960s that introduced a new
type of prison gang, one that combined traditional gang activities with an ideological infusion of white supremacy.
The Aryan Brotherhood formed in the wake of the desegregation of California’s prison system. In the 1960s and 1970s,
the prison systems of many states were racially segregated, sometimes for racist reasons and sometimes because prison
administrators found there was less violence when prisoners were housed with inmates of their own background. Various court decisions led to the dismantling of race-based state prison systems between the 1960s and the 1980s. Typically, such desegregation efforts were followed by increased violence and periods of race-based gang formation within
prison walls.
From the beginning, many—though not all—of the white prison gangs that formed during this period adopted elements
of white supremacy, often influenced by the earlier example of the Aryan Brotherhood. The 1980s were the first major
period of white supremacist gang formation, with many of the largest and oldest such gangs forming during this period,
including the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, the Aryan Circle, the Aryan Warriors, the Ohio Aryan Brotherhood, and others.
The influence of the original Aryan Brotherhood can be seen clearly in the names of many such early gangs.
White supremacist prison gangs continued to form in the 1990s, a period that also saw significant street activity by such
gangs, especially in states such as Texas and California. In California, which has the most white supremacist gangs in
the United States, cross-fertilization between white supremacist prison gangs and other white supremacist groups—
noticeably racist skinhead gangs—really took root, with a number of gangs essentially becoming hybrids: part white
street gang, part racist skinhead gang, and part white supremacist prison gang. This phenomenon eventually helped
create an entire “white power”/“peckerwood” subculture in California, especially southern California, emerging primarily
from poorer white or mixed white/Latino communities.
However, it was in the 21st century that white supremacist prison gangs were really able to expand, both in numbers and
geographically. A primary reason was the growth of methamphetamines (meth) as an illegal drug of choice. In 1996,
the Drug Enforcement Agency seized, in its various enforcement actions, a total of 751 kilograms of meth. By 2000, the
amount had more than doubled. Unlike cocaine or heroin, drugs based on substances (poppies, coca leaves) grown
abroad, so-called “meth labs” can make meth practically anywhere, from abandoned houses to motel rooms. Another
method of meth manufacture, the so-called “shake and bake” method, is even simpler, though it produces smaller
quantities.
Once a substance abused primarily in western states and dealt by outlaw motorcycle gangs, meth moved east, becoming particularly popular in the Midwest and the South, with white supremacist prison gangs increasingly involved in its
manufacture or distribution. This helped fuel the creation or growth of a number of white supremacist prison gangs in
the Midwest and South, with states such as Indiana, Missouri, and Tennessee developing significant racist prison gang
problems. Many such gangs were also 7V'6WVV