Prison letters resulted in 14 indictments

Federal officials confiscated more than 10,000 letters and notes sent by imprisoned members of the Aryan Warriors gang during a three-year investigation that resulted in 14 criminal indictments.

Prosecutors said the letters contained everyday language that served as a secret code for illegal activities the white supremacist gang was plotting.

But defense attorneys attending a hearing Friday told U.S. Magistrate Peggy Leen that they saw no illegal acts described in the letters. They suggested the FBI decoded harmless words and created a dictionary of terms that might be a secret language for illegal behavior. But to defense attorneys, those terms mean nothing.

"I'm not able to discern any nefarious message that might be in there," attorney Randall Roske said. "I'm reading this letter, that letter and the other letter and none of it says 'Go do a hit on Joe.' The significance is lost on me."

Federal authorities were able to decipher the meaning of terms used in the notes and letters and assemble a list of definitions, which the prosecution might be willing to turn over to the defense, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Marsh.

Marsh was unclear about whether an FBI expert would be made available to the defense to help with the secret language. The Aryan Warriors charged in the case are familiar with their own code words, he said.

"It's the language of their organization," Marsh said. "They know as well as we do."

In addition to the use of codes, the letters were written in handwriting that is difficult to read, the attorneys said. Because of the complexity of the case and the amount of time needed to comprehend the notes, which are key pieces of evidence, the defense asked Leen to set a trial date for October 2008.

Leen instead set a firm trial date of June 16, 2008.

Fourteen members of the white supremacist gang were charged in July. According to court documents, the violent crew was responsible for murder, bribing prison guards and drug trafficking inside and outside of prison.

Six of the gang members were incarcerated at Ely State Prison or the High Desert Prison in Indian Springs when the indictment was handed down. According to the indictment, the gang was able to operate while in prison because they bribed public officials and guards with drugs and money.

The guards, in turn, provided the white supremacists with information on homosexual prisoners, informants and those doing time for child molestation, the indictment says. The Aryan Warriors used the information to extort money from the inmates and their families.

It is believed the gang has operated in Nevada prisons for nearly 20 years, initially protecting white inmates and promoting white separatism. Over time it became involved in drug trafficking and teamed up with a Hispanic gang to sell drugs.

The fourteen men indicted by federal authorities were charged with criminal racketeering and violent crime in aid of racketeering.

The defendants who were in custody at the Ely State Prison are James Milton Wallis, 46; Scott Michael Sieber, 39; Robert Allen Young, 29; Guy Edward Almony, 35; and Charles Lee Axtell, 47. Jason Inman, 32, was in Indian Springs and Kory Allen Crossman was in federal custody.

Also charged in the indictment were Ronnie Lee Jones, 47; Tony Howard Morgan, 38; Kenneth Russell Krum, 37; Charles Edward Gensemer, 43; and Michael Wayne Yost, 53.