Pinole man sentenced for ordering hit, running drug ring from prison

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A Pinole man and member of the neo-Nazi gang Aryan Brotherhood was sentenced to two life terms in prison for murder and aiding racketeering, according to the Department of Justice.

Ronald Yandell was convicted of multiple RICO-related crimes, including murder, conspiracies to murder, and drug trafficking crimes. Authorities said the 62-year-old oversaw a "significant amount" of methamphetamine and heroin trafficking inside California State Prison-Sacramento from 2011 to 2016.

He was convicted alongside Riverside County man William Sylvester, 54. Evidence from their trial showed that Yandell and Sylvester committed these crimes using smuggled cellphones to direct their trafficking and order hits.

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Folsom State Prison in California is located in the city of Folsom, 20 miles North East from the state capital of Sacramento. Opened in 1880, Folsom is the second-oldest prison in the state after San Quentin. Folsom was one of the first maximum security prisons, and as such witnessed the execution of 92 condemned prisoners over a 42-year period. Folsom State Prison is one of 33 prisons operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (Photo by Axel Koester/Corbis via Getty Images)

On Aug. 15, 2015, two inmates "brutally murdered" another inmate at CSP-Sacramento at the behest of Yandell. The East Bay man offered the two inmates membership in the Aryan Brotherhood if they were able to kill the inmate successfully.

A year after the murder, the DEA intercepted a call on a smuggled cellphone where Yandell bragged about ordering the hit for membership in the gang.

Yandell had a man critical of the gang marked for death. For the killing, Sylvester was granted membership in the Aryan Brotherhood.

Another defendant, 71-year-old Danny Troxell, was also convicted on the same charges and is awaiting sentencing.

Crime and Public Safety Sacramento County Pinole East Bay