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Prosecutors accuse Colorado prison gang of murder, racketeering

JOHN SARCHE
the associated press

DENVER ” Prosecutors on Wednesday said they filed murder, assault and racketeering charges against a prison gang they called “Colorado’s Aryan Brotherhood.”

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 said prosecutors filed nearly 70 charges, which also include witness tampering and drug counts.



Denver police detective Aaron Lopez said the gang, called the 2-11 Crew, has an estimated 300 members throughout the state’s prisons.

To join, inmates were required to attack someone, Lopez said, and if released from prison, they were required to send money to members still behind bars.



The money was most often raised through illegal weapons sales and drugs, he said.

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, a white supremacist prison gang in several states.


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