Aryan Brotherhood member admits to organizing violent crimes and smuggling kilos of drugs from prison cells

FRESNO – A man who prosecutors said was on his way to joining the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang when he was indicted in 2020 has admitted to planning a murder, ordering an arson, arranging a robbery and directing drug sales from his California prison cell, court records show.

Kenneth Bash, 38, has agreed to plead guilty to organized crime and methamphetamine trafficking, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Bash's plea agreement describes drug deals he conducted in California and Montana, a plot to commit arson against someone who owed Bash money, and a plot to rob someone in Alabama.

Bash also admitted his involvement in a murder plot to kill a man suspected of sexually assaulting a girl. The other two alleged members of the murder plot are imprisoned members of the Aryan Brotherhood who are yet to face charges.

Bash was not a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, but held a position of power within the gang's hierarchy at Salinas Valley State Prison in 2020, according to an indictment against him. The plea agreement states that he was a “key cog” in the Aryan Brotherhood's drug business in prison, which prosecutors say was due to his use of smuggled cellphones to organize drug smuggling and deals in the free world.

A 2020 wiretap targeting Bash's phone led to a major federal investigation called Operation Lucky Charm, which focused on drug smuggling from prisons and involvement with a predominantly white gang in the Central Valley called the “Fresnecks.” Since then, the case has taken a much darker turn, with new charges charging alleged gang members with two separate double murders in Southern California and a series of prison killings.

Bash planned to kill someone suspected of sexually assaulting a girl in October 2020. The settlement states that the Aryan Brotherhood viewed the attack as “disrespect” and that Bash arranged for the would-be killer to get a gun. The plan was never carried out.

The indictment accuses Aryan Brotherhood members Waylon Pitchford and Jayson Weaver of aiding Bash in the plot. The two were reportedly inducted into the gang after murdering an alleged Black Guerrilla Family member named Hugo “Yogi” Pinell at California State Prison in Sacramento in 2015. Another gang leader was convicted of involvement in Pinell's murder last April and faced charges himself in court amid evidence that prison officials knew about threats to Pinell's death and failed to act.

Originally published: August 20, 2024 at 18:02