The United States Department of Justice has indicted 16 individuals who were allegedly part of a white supremacist movement in Florida called simply Unforgiven.
Acting United States Attorney Karin Hoppmann said Unforgiven included among its members “corrupt law enforcement officers and state employees” who leaked information about investigations and smuggled contraband to inmates.
Among the numerous charges in the indictment is one accusing Unforgiven member David Howell, 37, of “assaulting protesters with a dangerous weapon at a Peace Walk for Black Lives” on 5 June, 2020 - two weeks after the death of George Floyd.
The group’s alleged leaders included Maverick Maher, 39, also known as Saxon, Joshua Fisher, 27, known as Hammer, and George Andrews, 51, whose alias was Shrek.
The Department of Justice said Unforgiven members claimed to be reacting to "constant and almost brutal victimisation of whites" in the Florida prison system.
Sixteen individuals have been charged with racketeering and various violent crimes including kidnapping and threatening violence.
Maher, Fisher, Andrews and Brandon Welch, 34, aka Scumbag, face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.
Unforgiven was reportedly involved in at least one murder although none of the defendants have been specifically charged with murder.
The Florida Times-Union newspaper in Jacksonville said it was alleged “members and associates of the Unforgiven created a political branch called Route 21 to disguise the white supremacist roots of its political activity and attempted to smuggle contraband to jailed inmates”.
In a statement the Department of Justice said: “This investigation is the result of the Organised Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program, identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organisations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach”.
The most infamous prison gang in the US is the Aryan Brotherhood, which was led by Tommy Silverstein, a notorious inmate who died in 2019 after spending 36 years in solitary confinement after killing prison guard Merle Clutts while serving time in Marion penitentiary for murder.