White supremacist prison gang leader accused of attacking two California prison officers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A white supremacist prison gang leader is accused in the attempted homicide of two officers at the California State Prison in Sacramento, authorities said Tuesday.

Ronald D. Yandell, a leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, allegedly attacked two officers last Friday morning as they were transferring him back to his cell after an appointment at the prison’s health building.

Prison officials say he drew an “improvised weapon” against the officers. He dropped the weapon after an officer used pepper spray and was restrained and removed without further incident, officials said. No staff was injured.

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 referred to the county district attorney’s office for possible felony prosecution, officials said.

Yandell’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The Aryan Brotherhood is a violent white supremacist gang formed within California state prisons in the late 1960s that has since spread in the federal prison system. Authorities have spent decades trying to bring down the organization.

In 2019, following a multiyear investigation, Yandell was charged in the killing of several inmates that officials say included a member of a rival gang as well as Aryan Brotherhood associates who did not follow the rules. Federal officials said he was part of the gang’s three-member leadership commission.

A jury in April found him guilty of several counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, as well as several counts related to the distribution of heroin and methamphetamine.

Officials said Yandell and his cellmate oversaw a significant heroin and methamphetamine trafficking operation and used smuggled-in cellphones to directed murders and drug trafficking in Sacramento and other California cities, while also controlling the membership of the Aryan Brotherhood.

One of the rival gang members killed at the direction of Yandell was Hugo Pinell, a purported leader of the Black Guerilla Family gang and infamous member of the San Quentin 6, with which he helped to slit the throats of San Quentin prison guards during a failed 1971 escape attempt.

Pinell, who long denied any gang connection, was killed days after being moved out of isolation.