LOS ANGELES (AP) – The head of a white supremacist gang is accused of trying to kill two police officers at the California State Prison in Sacramento, authorities said Tuesday.
Ronald D. Yandell, the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison group, allegedly attacked two officers last Friday morning as they were returning him to his cell after an encounter at the prison’s health facility.
Prison officials say he drew an “improvised weapon” against the police. He dropped the weapon after the officer used pepper spray and was subdued and removed without further incident, officials said. No employee was injured.
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Yandell is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. He arrived at the prison in 2004. The case will be forwarded to the district attorney’s office for possible charges, officials said.
Yandell’s attorney did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
The Aryan Brotherhood is a violent white supremacist gang that formed inside California state prisons in the late 1960s that has since spread throughout the prison system. Officials spent decades trying to bring down the organization.
In 2019, following a multi-year investigation, Yandell was charged with murdering several inmates that authorities say included members of a rival gang and Aryan Brotherhood associates who did not follow the rules. Federal officials said he was part of a commission of three gang leaders.
A jury in April found him guilty of several counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder while aiding and abetting, as well as several counts related to the distribution of heroin and methamphetamine.
Authorities said Yandell and his cell partner oversaw heroin and methamphetamine trafficking and used cellphones to direct murders and drug sales in Sacramento and other California cities, while also controlling members of the Aryan Brotherhood.
One of the members of his rival gang killed under Yandell’s leadership was Hugo Pinell, the alleged leader of the Black Guerilla Family gang and a known member of the San Quentin 6, which he helped cut the throats of San Quentin prison guards during a crime spree. 1971 escape attempt.
Pinell, who for a long time refused to join the gang, was killed days after his own removal.