By Tori Richards
SANTA ANA, Calif (Reuters) – The Aryan Brotherhood recruits
sociopaths and inmates willing to kill without hesitation, a
former leader of the prison gang testified on Wednesday in the
conspiracy and racketeering trial of four of its leaders.
Convicted killer Clifford Smith, who sat shackled and
chained to the witness stand and wore a black eye patch, was
the first witness called by prosecutors in one of the largest
death penalty cases in the United States.
“Not everybody wants to kill somebody, some people are kind
of squeamish about that stuff,” Smith, who admitted committing
eight murders and directing at least 10 more, said in
describing the rare inmate welcomed into the Aryan Brotherhood,
also known as the Brand.
Asked by a prosecutor to further describe a candidate for
the notorious prison gang, Smith, who is in protective custody
after dropping out of the gang and cooperating with
authorities, said, “A sociopath.”
Aryan Brotherhood chief Barry “The Baron” Mills, top
lieutenant Tyler “The Hulk” Bingham, Christopher Gibson and
Edgar “Snail” Hevle are charged with ruling U.S. prisons
through murder, assault and intimidation.
The defendants say they are not a criminal gang but
prisoners who banded together to survive. Defense lawyers argue
the government case is built on testimony from convicted felons
willing to lie in exchange for leniency.
Smith recalled joining the Aryan Brotherhood shortly after
arriving in prison in 1977. “I wanted in because I’m a
predator,” he said. “Prison is made up of two types of people,
predators or prey. You have to pick one.”
In order to get into the Brand, a prospective member must
“kill someone in spectacular fashion” and vow never to leave
the group, he said, and his initiation was stabbing a fellow
inmate 37 times in full view of guards and other prisoners.
“It was meant to be a public execution,” Smith said. “Even
Jesus Christ and his disciples are not going to help you if we
want to get you.”
Defense attorneys used their cross-examination of Smith to
portray him as a liar, saying he was hoping to win parole
someday from the maximum-security prison where is housed.
After Smith told jurors he had told the truth while
testifying in two trials involving members of the Hells Angels
motorcycle gang, defense attorney Michael White played a tape
of Smith telling a sheriff’s deputy in 1998 that he had lied
during those cases.
White then accused Smith of being evasive on the witness
stand and looking for “a way out” of being caught in perjury.
“There wasn’t no way out. You caught me,” Smith responded.
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