Sixty-four individuals with ties to various white supremacist gangs have been convicted and sentenced to a combined 820 years in federal prison following an investigation led by the Texas Department of Public Safety, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.

This marks the second round of sentencings in what is believed to be the nation’s largest prosecution of white supremacist gang affiliates. In the first round, announced in August 2017, 89 defendants were convicted and sentenced to a combined 1,070 years in federal prison.

The 64th and final defendant in this round, 51-year-old Garry Cody Jones, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to more than 11 years’ imprisonment on a charge of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

All together, this round’s defendants – members or affiliates of white supremacists gangs including Aryan Circle, Aryan Brotherhood, the Peckerwoods, Soldiers of Aryan Culture, and the Dirty White Boys – were sentenced for trafficking more than 1,600 kilos of meth, 59 firearms, and various other drugs, including cocaine and heroin, between 2015 and 2018, according to court records.

Several of the defendants, including Ralph Adams, aka “Evil,” and Jerry Lunsford, aka “Looney,” kidnapped, threatened, and assaulted individuals they believed had stolen their drug proceeds. One defendant, Justin Mark Nelson, aka “Nazi,” even admitted to using a hatchet to amputate a victim’s finger in retribution for a purported drug debt. Another defendant, Joshua Lane, who sports a large tattoo of Adolf Hitler on his head, attempted to run over officers during his arrest.

“Not only do white supremacist gangs endorse repugnant ideologies, they also facilitate a violent drug and gun trade, putting our citizens in grave danger,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. “We were alarmed – but not necessarily surprised – at the quantities of drugs and firearms recovered during this investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to dismantle these organizations, disrupt their criminal activities, and put their members behind bars.”

“Thanks to the hard work of our investigators and the diligence of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 64 criminals are now off our streets and out of our communities,” said Texas DPS Regional Director Jeoff Williams. “Effective law partnerships are vital to operations like this and are instrumental in the making the state of Texas a safer place to live.”

The vast majority of defendants charged in this round, with charges announced in May 2018 following a massive takedown, had violent criminal histories. Combined, they had 587 prior convictions; certain defendants had as many as 28 prior convictions.

This investigation was led by the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division (DPS-CID) Gang Unit and the Dallas Police Department. The U.S. Marshal Service North Texas Fugitive Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Garland Police Department assisted in the investigation.

The Texas Anti-Gang Center, or TAG, coordinated the law enforcement operation. The TAG serves as the unified headquarters for roughly 100 of the region’s most knowledgeable and experienced federal, state and local anti-gang investigators, analysts and prosecutors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney P.J. Meitl was in charge of these prosecutions.