## Facts

- The Aryan Brotherhood (AB) operated as a prison gang spanning federal prisons, engaging in organized criminal activity including drug trafficking and violence to protect the group and enforce discipline.
- By the relevant period, AB leadership included commissioners who, by majority vote, could authorize major decisions, including ordering killings and initiating conflict with other gangs.
- The government alleged T.D. Bingham and Edgar Wesley Hevle were high-ranking AB leaders who helped direct AB racketeering activity, including murders.
- The jury found the defendants responsible for three murders tied to AB operations: Frank Joyner and Abdul Salaam (charged as violent crimes in aid of racketeering) and Arva Lee Ray (charged as federal murder).

## Issues

1. Whether sufficient evidence supported convictions for substantive RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), and RICO conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), based on defendants’ leadership participation in AB activities.
2. Whether sufficient evidence supported the VICAR murder convictions, 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(1), and the federal murder conviction, 18 U.S.C. § 1111, including for a defendant convicted under a Pinkerton theory.
3. Whether alleged internal restructuring of AB leadership negated proof of a continuing RICO enterprise or undermined Bingham’s racketeering and conspiracy liability.
4. Whether due process was violated under Napue principles by the government’s alleged knowing use of, or failure to correct, perjured testimony from a cooperating witness.
5. Whether the evidence permitted the jury to interpret Bingham’s statements as authorizing killings rather than merely issuing warnings.
6. Whether Pinkerton liability properly supported Hevle’s convictions for substantive offenses committed by co-conspirators.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgments and life sentences on all counts for both defendants.
- The court held the evidence was sufficient to support the RICO, RICO conspiracy, VICAR murder, and federal murder convictions.
- The court rejected the claim that AB leadership restructuring undermined enterprise proof or Bingham’s liability where AB objectives and criminal operations remained consistent.
- The court found no due process violation based on alleged perjury; inconsistencies in a witness’s accounts were treated as credibility issues for the jury absent proof of knowing falsity.
- The court held a reasonable jury could construe Bingham’s statements as orders or authorizations to kill.
- The court upheld Hevle’s convictions under Pinkerton, concluding the substantive crimes were in furtherance of the conspiracy and reasonably foreseeable given his role in the conspiracy.

## Legal Principles

- Leadership participation in an organized gang enterprise that directs or authorizes violence can supply sufficient evidence for substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy convictions.
- VICAR liability may be supported where violent acts are tied to maintaining or advancing a defendant’s position within an enterprise.
- Internal changes in an organization’s hierarchy do not defeat RICO enterprise continuity when the organization’s objectives and methods of criminal operation remain the same.
- A Napue-based due process claim requires evidence that the prosecution knowingly presented false testimony or failed to correct it; inconsistent statements alone do not establish perjury or knowing use of falsity.
- Under Pinkerton, a conspirator may be held liable for substantive offenses committed by co-conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy and reasonably foreseeable to the defendant.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit affirmed RICO, VICAR, and murder convictions arising from AB leadership-directed violence, holding that the evidence supported enterprise and murder liability, internal leadership restructuring did not negate the enterprise, inconsistent witness testimony did not establish a due process violation absent knowing falsity, and Pinkerton supported liability for foreseeable co-conspirator crimes.


United States v. Bingham, 653 F.3d 983 (9th Cir. 2011)