Oklahoma Aryan Brotherhood Prison Gang Leaves Behind Carnage, Sheriff Says

An indictment says the Universal Aryan Brotherhood was involved in numerous violent crimes, including nine murders, kidnappings and assaults, spanning over 15 years.

Thursday, February 21st 2019, 8:39 pm

By: Amy Slanchik

Oklahoma Aryan Brotherhood Prison Gang Leaves Behind Carnage, Sheriff Says

Prosecutors say an Oklahoma prison gang ran a drug trafficking organization and ordered violent crimes from inside prison walls. An indictment says the Universal Aryan Brotherhood was involved in numerous violent crimes, including nine murders, kidnappings and assaults, spanning over 15 years.

The Department of Justice says members of the Universal Aryan Brotherhood used cell phones inside Oklahoma prisons to control crime on the outside. 18 men and women are indicted in a case U.S. Attorney Trent Shores says is a huge step in taking down the "whites only" gang.

"The tools of their trade? Hate. Fear. Violence. And intimidation,” Shores said in a news conference Thursday.

The indictment says nine people were murdered because of the gang. That includes Jason Harris, killed during a kidnapping and robbery in 2017.

It also includes University of Tulsa student Sufeng He, who was shot and killed in an attempted carjacking by a UAB member back in 2011.

"As a homicide investigator that day, I can tell you that he was not the only victim of that. He left behind a fiancé. That suspect left behind carnage in Tulsa that resulted in multiple shootings,” Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado said in the news conference.

All 18 people listed in the indictment are accused of distributing meth as part of a widespread scheme. Shores said from 2012 to 2017, meth-related deaths in Oklahoma more than doubled.

The indictment says the Universal Ayran Brotherhood was organized in Oklahoma prisons in back in1993, modeled after the Aryan Brotherhood, which was formed in California in the 1960s.

"While we see that the Universal Aryan Brotherhood started this operation within the walls of the prison, like a cancer it spread throughout our state,” Shores said.

Of the 18 people indicted, one is out on bond. The rest are in state and federal custody, in several states across the country.

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