White Aryan Brotherhood
The White Aryan Brotherhood (WAB) is a white supremacist prison gang that originated in 1967 in California's San Quentin prison. Initially formed to protect its members from rival groups, the WAB draws its membership exclusively from individuals of European descent and aligns itself with neo-Nazi ideologies. The gang is known for its strict racial exclusivity and a violent initiation process that requires new members to commit murder. Over the years, the Brotherhood has expanded its influence across the United States through prison outreach programs and a strong focus on drug trafficking, which has occasionally led to temporary alliances with non-white gangs for mutual benefit.
The organization communicates and makes decisions through a commission, with major policies driven by correspondence from outside members. Despite its origins and affiliation with the Aryan Nations, the Brotherhood has shifted from overt paramilitary activities to focusing on drug-related operations, while still maintaining a strong potential for racial violence, particularly in prison settings. Today, the gang is estimated to have over 20,000 members and continues to be a focus of law enforcement efforts aimed at curtailing its activities.
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White Aryan Brotherhood
The White Aryan Brotherhood, usually identified as an affiliate or offshoot of the Aryan Nations, was organized in California’s San Quentin prison in 1967, some years before the Aryan Nations' foundation under the Reverend Richard Butler. Many of the Brotherhood’s first members had belonged to an earlier gang, variously known as the Bluebirds, the Diamond Tooth Gang, and the Nazi Gang. Initially, the Brotherhood was formed to protect its membership against Black American and Hispanic groups such as La Nuestra Familia and the Black Guerrillas. The gang’s real or imagined development from Irish German ancestry is reflected in its official tattoo, which consists of a shamrock, the letters AB, and three sixes.
Exclusively White, the Brotherhood initially adhered to the primary tenets of most groups later associated with the Aryan Nations, including White supremacy and a neo-Nazi ideology. Its membership is still strictly drawn on racial lines, although its heavy involvement in drug trafficking and extortion sometimes requires temporary alliances with non-White gangs or individuals. The splinter group, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, which is no longer part of the larger gang, was found in 2014 to be collaborating with the Gulf cartel, for instance.
Brotherhood members remain bound for life in accordance with a “blood-in-blood-out” code. As a rite of initiation, called “making your bones,” each member must kill someone marked for death by the group. Because membership requires the unanimous approval of all local members, some inmates who have made their bones and embraced the Brotherhood’s ideals have been denied membership but maintain a very close relationship with the group. Members who are released from prison remain committed to the organization and are expected to advance its agenda.
The Brotherhood’s association with the Aryan Nations began in the late 1970s when that group started a prison outreach program designed to maintain the allegiance of its own imprisoned members as well as benefit from the prison drug trade. In 1987, the Aryan Nations began circulating The Way, an underground prison newsletter that helped the Brotherhood spread, recruit new members, and establish a communications network of vital importance in maintaining the Brotherhood’s structure and chain of command. Major policy decisions and targeted murders are approved by a “commission” that communicates its rulings through correspondence from outside members and in attorney interviews and social visits.
As increasing numbers of Aryan Brotherhood members were paroled, the outreach effort of the Aryan Nations had a reciprocal impact on both organizations. It has helped the Brotherhood spread from prison to prison all across the United States, from California to New England. However, unlike many of the affiliates of the Aryan Nations, the imprisoned Brotherhood members engage in no paramilitary activities, having neither the resources nor freedom to do so. In fact, over the years, the group has modified its neo-Nazi credo. It now concentrates on its special identity, sustained by Irish and Viking ancestral myths and symbols. Its main business is drug trafficking, not the sort of antigovernment activities associated with many other splinter groups of the Aryan Nations. Most of the violence associated with the gang during the 1980s and 1990s reflected an internal power struggle, resulting in the death or isolation of many of the earliest members of the gang.
Nevertheless, its potential for racial violence, particularly within the prison system, remains very strong. Despite extensive efforts to disband the organization’s structure in the 1990s, in the twenty-first century, the Aryan Brotherhood operates with more than 20,000 members inside and outside prison. Law enforcement officers charged over one hundred individuals in 2020, mostly using wiretap information collected from Aryan Brotherhood members in prison who were using contraband phones to control the organization while incarcerated.
Bibliography
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Balleck, Barry J. Hate Groups and Extremist Organizations in America: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2019.
Fuchs, Erin, and Jorja Leap. "A Look inside White Supremacist Prison Gangs." Interview by Neal Conan. Talk of the Nation, NPR, 9 Apr. 2013, www.npr.org/2013/04/09/176681634/a-look-inside-white-supremacist-prison-gangs. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
Kaplan, Jeffrey, editor. Encyclopedia of White Power. AltaMira, 2000.
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