Flanked by a cadre of local law enforcement, including Boise, Caldwell, Meridian and Nampa police, U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson announced Tuesday afternoon that a federal grand jury has handed down indictments of 21 members of the Aryan Knights gang, a white supremacist gang operating in and out of Idaho prisons.
Law enforcement charged 12 current inmates in Idaho prisons, and arrested five more people this morning. Four more individuals remain at-large. The 21 are charged with distributing methamphetamine and possessing firearms.
"With these indictments and arrests, we have made the streets safer and weakened the operations of the Aryan Knights," said Olson.
Olson told Citydesk that a significant number of members of the Aryan Knight gangs remain in Idaho prisons, but those convicted of the new charges will be sent out-of-state to serve additional time in federal prisons.
"Methamphetamine ruins lives, disrupts families and those seeking the drug turn to property crimes to serve their addiction," said Olson.
Feds pointed to the so-called SAUSA Gang project, in which a special prosecutor hired to address gang crimes has indicted more than 200 suspects and seen a 93 percent conviction rate.
