Texas Aryan Brotherhood Saga: 18 Gang Members Headed to Prison

Aryan Brotherhood
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Eighteen members of the Aryan Brotherhood gang have been sentenced to federal prison for their role in a large-scale methamphetamine distribution network. The Aryan Brotherhood has been known to act as an enforcement and distribution arm for the Mexican Gulf cartel, the transnational criminal organization that controls territory immediately south of the Rio Grande Valley Sector of Texas.

The investigation is officially called Operation La Flama Blanca. Federal, Texas state, and local agencies mobilized to dismantle the Aryan Brotherhood in Texas after the arrest of an associated gang member who was caught by Texas authorities with 300 pounds of methamphetamine that were revealed to belong to the Mexican Gulf cartel.

The law enforcement campaign against the Aryan Brotherhood in Texas has been a dramatic saga — complete with arrests, murder plots and assassinations, and an assistant U.S. attorney recusing himself out of fear for his life and the lives of his family.

The 2013 assassinations of two Texas prosecutors and one of their wives first appeared to be linked to the investigation into the Aryan Brotherhood and the the Gulf cartel. The murderers turned out to be a disgruntled former prosecutor and his wife, but they used the investigation into the two criminal groups as cover for their plot. During that time, an assistant U.S. attorney who was assigned to the case recused himself, citing safety concerns.

The issue even involved media drama at left-of-center media publications. This reporter went through declassified documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and revealed that the traditionally race-based Aryan Brotherhood has shifted from focusing on race and begun to focus more on profits — even if that meant working in alliances with criminal groups composed of non-whites. The Wonkette seized the opportunity with this bold headline, “Breitbart’s Brandon Darby: Aryan Brotherhood Can’t Be Racist Because They Have Mexican Friends.”

The authorities and the indictment against the Aryan Brotherhood members does not distinguish between the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and the Aryan Brotherhood.

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