Overview

• Ronald Yandell, 62, and William Sylvester, 56, were sentenced to two consecutive life terms in federal court for racketeering, murder, and drug trafficking crimes committed while incarcerated.
• Yandell was found guilty of directing a 2015 prison murder to initiate two inmates into the Aryan Brotherhood, while Sylvester earned his membership through a 2001 prison killing.
• Evidence presented at trial included wiretapped calls and testimony showing the gang's use of contraband cellphones to coordinate drug trafficking and violent crimes both inside and outside prison walls.
• The prosecution highlighted the Aryan Brotherhood's control over criminal activities in California prisons, including heroin and methamphetamine distribution and orchestrated murders.
• Yandell and his defense argued the case was politically motivated, citing his role in a 2013 hunger strike against solitary confinement, but the court upheld the convictions.