A federal judge recently sentenced the last two of 34 Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) gang members to prison for their roles in a methamphetamine drug distribution network. The FBI claimed it marked the end of the gang’s foothold in Central Texas.
According to an FBI press release, the ABT was selling as much as four kilos of methamphetamine each month in a 60-square-mile area of rural Central Texas. Local authorities started noticing that in multiple Central Texas counties near Waco and Fort Hood, crimes like burglaries, property crimes, arsons, assaults, firearms thefts, and even homicides were spiking. When law enforcement agencies started comparing notes, they realized that the common denominator was the regional meth trade.
Over the course of the three-year investigation, authorities identified approximately 30 Aryan Brotherhood gang members central to the drug distribution operation. The FBI developed confidential sources and administered court-ordered wire taps. Controlled drug buys were made, and evidence was compiled against the gang members. Eventually, investigators learned the source of the gang’s cartel-affiliated supplier in Dallas.
The release indicated that in September 2014, 20 members of the ABT were arrested and charged with drug distribution related to the methamphetamine operation. Since then, all 34 gang members who have been charged and convicted for their roles in the drug network are now serving time in federal prison.
The press release did not indicate specifically which cartel the ABT’s meth supplier was affiliated with. Most of the major Mexican drug cartels are involved in meth production and distribution to different extents. However, Los Zetas and the Gulf cartel tend to have the broadest amount of influence in Texas. The ABT is a white supremacist gang which would normally never consider consorting with Latinos under any circumstances. When it comes to business—and particularly drug trafficking—the ABT and other race-based criminal groups will make interracial alliances if it means bigger profits.
Sylvia Longmire is a border security expert and Contributing Editor for Breitbart Texas. You can read more about cross-border issues in her latest book, Border Insecurity: Why Big Money, Fences, and Drones Aren’t Making Us Safer.
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