Investigators are calling a 43-page document a landmark indictment. It's targeting the top leaders in one of this area's most dangerous prison and street gangs.
Investigators say five men are high-ranking members of a dangerous prison gang called the Aryan brotherhood of Texas and fugitives, now on the run after a major crackdown on organized crime.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said, "Brutal beatings, fire bombings, drug trafficking and murder are all part of ABT's alleged standard operating procedures."
The assistant attorney general and members of more than a dozen local, state and federal law enforcement agencies gathered on Friday to announce the federal indictments against 34 members of Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, or ABT, a historically 'whites only' military-style gang.
"Four ABT generals are named in today's indictment," Breuer explained. "Thirteen other alleged ABT leaders with the ranks of major, captain or lieutenant are also being charged today, along with numerous other gang members and associates."
Investigators say members of ABT, both inside and outside prisons, are responsible for violent crimes across Harris County and the state. Investigators say at times the ring leaders ordered others to mutilate low-ranking members who didn't obey direct orders.
Steven Morris with the FBI said, "A conscious effort was made to go after the worst of the worst."
Fifteen alleged gang members named in the indictment were already behind bars. The FBI says billboards with the faces of the ones who are fugitives are soon going up across our area.
Some of the indicted gang members have done time at Harris County Jail for violent crimes.
