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Aryan Warriors prison gang in Nevada charged with murder, drug trafficking,
racketeering





ARYAN WARRIORS PRISON GANG IN NEVADA CHARGED WITH MURDER, DRUG TRAFFICKING,
RACKETEERING

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Ed Komenda   | Reno Gazette-Journal

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White nationalist group vandalizes Fort Thomas with stickers
Stickers of Patriot Front, a white nationalist hate group, popped up over the
weekend along Fort Thomas' main boulevard.
Chris Mayhew, cmayhew@enquirer.com


LAS VEGAS – In what authorities are calling a “major investigative takedown,” 23
people tied to the Aryan Warriors – a violent white supremacist gang operating
under orders trickling from leaders inside Nevada prisons – were indicted on
more than 150 charges, including drug trafficking, racketeering and murder.



An indictment unsealed last week charges two men in the 2016 murder of Andrew
Ryan Thurgood at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs.

Anthony Williams, known as "Mugsy," and Tarik Goicoechea, known as "Torque," now
stand charged with murder and conspiring to kill Thurgood.

Thurgood, 26, was stabbed during a fight with two other inmates in a facility
dayroom. He had been serving 12 to 34 months at the prison following a
conviction on a felony charge of attempted possession of a stolen vehicle.



Another pair of men – Devin Campbell, known as "Soup," and Christopher Ashoff,
known as "Bullwinkle" – stand charged with the murders two men earlier this
year.

Josue Lizardo Contreras-Verdin, 24, was found shot to death on a Las Vegas road,
and Thomas Patrick Glenn, 49, was stabbed to death in a backyard tent.


A PRISON-TO-STREET TRICKLE DOWN

The Aryan Warriors are an organized para-military group with operatives in both
the prison system and the Las Vegas community. 



Orders to street-based members to commit the crimes the syndicate is known
for trickle to the outside from imprisoned leaders behind bars, according to
authorities.



Unlike other white supremacist groups that are focused on spreading their
ideologies, the Aryan Warriors are focused on drug trafficking, racketeering –
and murder. 

According to the indictment, the white supremacist gang uses violence to:

• Obtain greater access to the illegal controlled substance market 



• Prevent members or others from cooperating with law enforcement  

• Traffick and/or sell controlled substances 

• Possess forgery laboratories, forged credit cards, forged currency in order to
finance the Aryan Warriors and/or a white supremacist ideology 

• Organize, manage and finance the Aryan Warriors criminal syndicate, by
instructing members to commit violence on behalf of the gang.

At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, members of DEA Las Vegas and the Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, disclosed additional details about what
authorities dubbed a “major investigative takedown.”




'DIRECTED, FOR-PROFIT VIOLENCE'

The investigation began in February.

"The mission of the joint operation was the disrupt and dismantle the Aryan
Warriors' violent impact in the Las Vegas Valley," said John Leon, captain of
the Gang Vice Bureau in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The gang, Leon said, had been actively involved in acts including murder,
robbery, battery with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, fraud,
identity theft, drug trafficking and selling narcotics between California and
Las Vegas.

"This gang is responsible for some of the worst crimes that have occurred in our
community," Leon said. "There is a distinct link between the leadership and the
street soldiers of the documented Aryan Warriors and directed, for-profit
violence."

The takedown later led to the arrest of the Aryan Warriors' main leadership and
a dismantling of the gang's drug distribution networks, Leon said.




WRANGLING THE WARRIORS 

On Aug. 17, federal and local law enforcement teams executed seven search
warrants and arrested 10 suspects with ties to the Aryan Warriors.

Authorities seized seven guns, two bulletproof vests, one stolen trailer, three
stolen motorcycles, four dismantled fraud labs and $9,700 in U.S. currency.



Throughout the investigation, authorities seized or recovered more than 30
firearms, including rifles, shotguns and handguns – many that were stolen.

They also collected four pounds of methamphetamine, Leon said, and half a pound
of heroin. 



"We have severely disrupted and dismantled the white supremacist criminal
syndicate known as the Aryan Warriors," Leon said.

Seven more defendants were taken into custody before the document was unsealed
Wednesday. Three are sought on warrants.

The charges come more than seven years after a U.S. District Court judge in Las
Vegas added 40 years in federal prison to two state sentences of life behind
bars for Aryan Warriors leader Ronald “Joey” Sellers.

Sellers, now 51, pleaded guilty to committing a violent crime in aid of a
racketeering offense, admitting his role in a stabbing attack on another
defendant while in federal custody during a lengthy prosecution that saw 15
accused members of the white supremacist gang convicted of charges including
assaults, drug offenses and racketeering.




GANG NICKNAMES

Many of the men and women indicted in the Aryan Warrior takedown carried with
them gang nicknames: 

• "Coco"

• "Lil Dog" 

• "Big Jess"

• "Dot"

• "Checkers"

• "Bro Bro"

• "Sully"

• "Temper"

• "Soup"

• "Mugsy"

• "Lil Mickey"

• "Torque"

• "Bullwinkle"

• "Cowboy"

• "Skitzo"

• "E"

Contributing: The Associated Press. 

Ed Komenda writes about Las Vegas for the Reno Gazette Journal and USA Today
Network. Do you care about democracy? Then support local journalism by
subscribing to the Reno Gazette Journal right here. 

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