According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the Aryan Circle is a race-based and violent prison gang with members operating throughout the country, both inside and outside of prisons, the Department of Justice says.
Two members of the Aryan Circle were sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison each for their role in the attempted murder of a fellow inmate at U.S. Penitentiary Yazoo City in Mississippi, according to the Department of Justice.
William Glenn Chunn, aka “Big Head,” 40, of Humble, Texas, and Aaron Matthew Rentfrow, aka “Mongo,” 42, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, were convicted in October in the Southern District of Mississippi of violent crime in aid of racketeering and attempted murder, the DOJ announced in a press release.
The DOJ said that evidence at trial demonstrated that on Aug. 17, 2017, Rentfrow beat and stabbed the victim to earn membership into the Aryan Circle. Chunn, one of the five highest-ranking Aryan Circle leaders in the nation, ordered the attack and targeted the victim because he believed the victim was homosexual, the DOJ said.
The victim sustained severe injuries from the attack, including rib fractures, a collapsed lung requiring a chest tube, multiple puncture wounds to his chest, and lacerations to the face and head.
Chunn was previously convicted in the Eastern District of Texas of racketeering conspiracy and sentenced to life imprisonment for separate crimes, according to the Department of Justice.
Renfrow was serving time after pleading guilty to his wife’s murder in 2011, according to a report from 2013 in the Fairbanks Daily News Minor.
The Aryan Circle is a race-based and violent prison gang with members operating throughout the country, both inside and outside of prisons, the DOJ said. "The Aryan Circle enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects, and associates through threats, intimidation and acts of violence including, but not limited to, acts involving assault, murder, and members are required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members without question," the DOJ wrote in its release.
Also known as AC or The Diamond, the Aryan Circle is the second-largest white supremacist prison gang in Texas and one of the largest such gangs in the U.S., according to anti-hate organization the Anti-Defamation League.
