White Nationalist Gang Members Indicted For Brutal 2013 Assault

ST. LOUIS, MO — Four members of a white nationalist gang have been charged with aggravated assault for a 2013 attack that served as a warning to other gang members, federal law enforcement officials said Thursday. Forty-three-year-old Thomas B. Wilson, of Villa Ridge, 31-year-old Daniel B. Jerome of Wentzville, 34-year-old Thomas Tisher of St. Louis and 28-year-old Dustin M. Haney of Hermann were indicted by a grand jury on Halloween.

Of the four, only Jerome remains at large.

The four were part of the Aryan Circle prison gang, officials said, a "powerful, race-based, multi-state organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout the United States." The gang is especially active in Missouri.

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The indictment alleges that the four accused men carried out a brutal assault in November 2013 to establish their status in the gang, which enforces its rules and promotes discipline among members through murder, assault, robbery and threats, according to the Department of Justice. Members are expected to follow orders without hesitation.

"Gangs like the Aryan Circle threaten the safety and security of all Americans, and the Criminal Division will target and aggressively prosecute any individual who commits acts of violence on behalf of a gang," said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski, who serves the Eastern District of Missouri.

Officials said the Aryan Circle is an offshoot of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and established itself as an independent organization through violent conflicts with other gangs in the 1990s.

The case was investigated by an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force consisting of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

As in every case, charges are merely accusations, not proof of guilt.

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