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A Pinole man involved with the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang was given two life sentences in federal prison for murder in the aid of racketeering and other crimes, the U.S. Department of Justice Eastern District of California announced this week.
Ronald Yandell, 62, and his co-defendant William Sylvester, 56, were each given two consecutive life terms for murder in the aid of racketeering and other RICO-related crimes, U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said.
Between 2011 and 2016, Aryan Brotherhood members and associates engaged in racketeering activity, committing multiple acts involving murder, conspiracies to murder, and drug trafficking crimes, prosecutors said. Aryan Brotherhood members oversaw a significant heroin and methamphetamine trafficking operation from their California prison cells using smuggled cellphones to direct drug trafficking activities, order murders, and oversee other criminal activities inside and outside of the prisons.
In 2015, two inmates carried out a brutal murder of another inmate at a prison in Sacramento on Yandell’s order, according to prosecutors. Before the murder, Yandell offered the two inmates membership in the Aryan Brotherhood if they were able to carry out the killing. About a year after the murder, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency intercepted calls made by Yandell over a contraband cellphone in which he bragged about directing the murder and his sponsoring of the killers for membership in the gang. Yandell also directed that money earned from Aryan Brotherhood criminal activities be directed to support the two murderers.
Sylvester, who is originally from Riverside County, murdered another inmate at the same Sacramento prison to earn his membership in the Aryan Brotherhood. In particular, Sylvester murdered the other inmate because the victim was a member of a gang that refused to recognize the Aryan Brotherhood’s authority and, as a result, members of the victim’s gang were marked for death, according to the DOJ.
To carry out the murder, Sylvester and another inmate used substantial planning and premeditation to carry out the attack within an extremely-restrictive prison environment. They used inmate-manufactured weapons and surprised the victim with multiple lethal stab wounds to the victim’s body. Sylvester earned membership in the gang for carrying out the killing.
In April, a federal jury found Yandell, Sylvester, and co-defendant Danny Troxell, 71, guilty of RICO conspiracy, conspiracy to murder, murder in aid of racketeering, and multiple counts of drug trafficking.
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