Jurors delve into the secret world of prison gangs as Aryan Brotherhood trial begins

Recently sworn-in jurors got an immersive look into the cutthroat and chaotic world of prison gangs, and even passed around a murder weapon from a 2011 stabbing.

SACRAMENTO — Jurors were given an immersive and hands-on look into the chaotic and cutthroat world of prison gangs Monday, at the start of what is expected to be a lengthy racketeering trial centered on the Aryan Brotherhood.

Prosecutors gave a 45-minute opening statement detailing prison murders, contraband smuggling and wiretapped conversations they claim will prove murder conspiracy charges against three men alleged to be at or near the top of the white prison gang’s hierarchy in California.

In their roughly 75 minutes of presentation, attorneys for the three defendants predicted how the prosecution’s case would fall apart, and along the way revealed the names of three gangsters-turned-informants expected to take the stand.

On trial are Ronald Dean Yandell, William Sylvester and Danny Troxell, the California State Prison, Sacramento inmates whom prosecutors say have the power to order murders and control drug sales simply by uttering a few words. Defense attorneys countered that the long-awaited trial will not only expose prison administrative corruption, but government over-reaching. They argued that, in several instances, murders allegedly motivated by personal reasons were falsely attributed to the Aryan Brotherhood.

“Every Aryan Brotherhood member is expected to be a killer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Spencer told jurors during his opening statement on Monday in a Sacramento courtroom. He said the gang’s reputation for committing murders “in the most brutal way possible” fuels its reputation, which members then use to control drug trafficking and other rackets.

When the gang’s members acquired contraband cellphones in prison, Spencer said, they used them to hold conference calls and maintain their power. In one such discussion, Yandell, a Pinole native, allegedly reminded another Aryan Brotherhood member to “run a tight ship” and asked him, “have you butchered anyone lately?”

Yandell’s attorney, Sean McClelland, scoffed at the idea that one person could control violence and drug dealing across California’s “chaotic” prison system and told jurors they’d find valid reasons not to trust government witnesses, including former co-defendants who are desperate to avoid lengthy prison terms.

“You’ll often hear, in many instances, that Mr. Yandell heard about something after it happened. He is surprised that it happened,” McClelland said.

Two of the government’s witnesses, Jeanna Quesenberry and Travis Burhop, were once co-defendants who received lenient plea deals despite being major drug dealers, McClelland said. Troxell’s lawyer said a third former Aryan Brotherhood member, Donald “Popeye” Mazza, is also cooperating with the government.

Mazza, a founder of the Orange County skinhead gang called Public Enemy Number One, or PENI, is believed to have intimate knowledge of murders, drug sales and other illegal activity inside and outside of prison. But Troxell’s lawyer said Mazza has a personal motive to testify: Troxell and Mazza had a romantic interest in the same woman.

Knut Johnson, an attorney representing Sylvester, started his opening statement by assuring the jury that the charge his client faces — the 2011 murder of a skinhead gang member named Ronald Richardson — would not be a whodunit.

“Upfront, I wanna tell you this. Mr. Sylvester killed Mr. Richardson,” Johnson said. But the racketeering charge requires prosecutors prove the murder happened for a gang-related reason, and that’s where the nuance comes in.

“The person he killed was a known child molester,” Johnson said, later adding, “It had nothing to do with the Aryan Brotherhood.”

Similarly, prosecutors alleged the 2015 stabbing death of Hugo “Yogi” Pinell — carried out by Aryan Brotherhood members who prosecutors say “earned” a coveted shamrock tattoo for the killing — was the completion of a murder conspiracy decades in the making. Yandell’s lawyer said that Pinell, a former member of the Black Guerrilla Family prison gang, was universally hated by prisoners, regardless of their skin color or creed.

“When you hear all the evidence, you may even wonder if prison officials wanted Mr. Pinell dead,” McClelland said. He later urged jurors not to be swayed by a wiretapped call where Yandell and others allegedly express approval of the killing and use a racial slur.

Prosecutors described Troxell as an “elder statesman” in the Aryan Brotherhood gang; his membership stretches back decades, according to court records. While his lawyer, Todd Leras, didn’t specifically agree with that assessment, he painted a similar picture, calling Troxell a “protector” of other members who used his influence to mediate conflicts that would have otherwise turned violent.

“Take a look at what Mr. Troxell did. Not what he said,” Leras told jurors. When it came to a murder conspiracy Troxell’s accused of — involving an alleged victim named James Mickey — Leras said prosecutors simply misinterpreted a wiretapped phone call where Troxell and Yandell were speaking in vague terms.

During the same call, Troxell also referenced an incident where an Aryan Brotherhood member from Contra Costa County — Ronnie Irwin — attacked a Mexican Mafia member with a bar of soap in a sock. Troxell said they “didn’t need another Lil Ronnie situation” because he was worried about any incident that would affect a carefully negotiated peace treaty between formerly adversarial prison gangs, Leras said.

After opening statements, jurors heard the testimony of several prison guards, mostly about the 2011 stabbing of Richardson allegedly by Sylvester and a second inmate.

One retired correctional officer, Machelle Calderon, recounted taking pictures of Richardson’s body, then she was shown the actual knife used to kill him. The knife was removed from a sealed plastic evidence bag and passed around the jury until each juror had a chance to hold it.

“Does it appear the same as it was before?” a prosecutor asked Calderon.

“The blood’s drying out,” she said.