Life Sentences Expected for 2 Convicted Aryan Brotherhood Leaders in California

SANTA ANA, California – Two Aryan Brotherhood ringleaders were convicted of murder, racketeering and conspiracy in July after a four-month trial. Now, as their sentencing hearing began Monday, they were to learn their punishment.

Barry "The Baron" Mills and Tyler "The Hulk" Bingham were expected to receive life sentences Monday following a sweeping federal case aimed at dismantling one of the country's most notorious prison gangs.

In a separate death penalty phase in September, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter declared a mistrial after the jury said it was unable to reach an unanimous verdict. The ruling paved the way for life prison sentences.

The case against Mills, 58, and Bingham, 59, was part of a larger indictment that federal prosecutors hope will eventually dismantle the Aryan Brotherhood, a violent white supremacist organization accused of running powerful gambling operations and drug rings from inside some of the nation's most dangerous prisons.

Among other things, the jury convicted Mills and Bingham of inciting a race riot at a prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1997. Frank Joyner and Abdul Salaam, alleged members of the rival DC Blacks prison gang, were killed during the uprising.

Mills and Bingham were convicted of offenses known as Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering — laws originally passed to target the Mafia. The so-called VICAR verdicts made Mills and Bingham eligible for the death penalty.