DENVER – Prosecutors on Wednesday said they filed murder, assault and racketeering charges against a white supremacist prison gang.
Denver police detective Aaron Lopez said the gang, called the 2-11 Crew (search), has an estimated 300 members throughout the state's prisons.
To join, inmates were required to attack someone, and if released from prison, they were required to send money to members still behind bars, Lopez said. The money was most often raised through illegal weapons sales and drugs, he said.
The indictments, unsealed late Tuesday, target 24 people inside and outside the prison system. All but two were arrested by Wednesday.
Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter (search) said prosecutors filed nearly 70 charges, which also include witness tampering and drug counts.
Lopez said the investigation began in 2003 after an assault in Denver and "exploded" when witnesses told him about the 2-11 Crew. He compared the gang to the Aryan Brotherhood (search), a white supremacist prison gang in several states.
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