Former Aryan Knights gang leader pleads guilty to assault and conspiracy charges

43-year-old James Ramsey, former leader of the Aryan Knights Idaho prison gang, entered guilty pleas for charges he was facing for criminal behavior in Idaho Department of Correction facilities.

Ramsey pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise under the federal RICO statute (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act) conspiracy and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering. Sentencing for Ramsey was scheduled for Oct. 22, 2024.

The plea was announced by US attorney Josh Hurwit on Tuesday, July 16. Ramsey's guilty plea is the last in a ten-defendant case charged in 2019. All defendants in the case have entered guilty pleas.

The Aryan Knights are a corrupt racketeering enterprise as defined in the RICO statute. The AK get's its money through, among other things, extortion and smuggling and distributing controlled substances into IDOC facilities.

Ramsey confirmed that he would participate in the illegal operations with the AK and that he was involved with or aware of the following acts by the gang:

• The AK trafficked drugs into IDOC from 2010 to 2018, including a 2015-2016 scheme to smuggle methamphetamine into IDOC using a wheelchair and another smuggling plot using another inmate's girlfriend.
• AK members were ordered to attack another inmate who was a former member of the gang in spring of 2016. The orders came from Ramsey and resulted in the beating and stabbing of the victim.

The ten defendants in the case against the Aryan Knights have pleaded guilty. Information on the eight that have been sentenced at this time is available below:

• Harlan Hale, 58, was sentenced in March of 2021 to life in federal prison.

• Christopher Foss, 35, was sentenced in September, 2020, to 210 months in federal prison, with 174 months to be served after his earliest possible parole date for his current state prison sentence. Foss was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release following his incarceration.

• Buck Pickens, 35, was sentenced in September, 2020, to 206 months in federal prison, with 60 months to be served after his earliest possible parole date for his current sentence. Pickens was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release following his incarceration.

• Steven Bowman, 41, was sentenced in May, 2023, to 78 months in federal prison, to be served after his earliest possible parole date for his current sentence. Bowman was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release following his incarceration.

• Nicholas Sites, 39, was sentenced in January, 2023, to 55 months in federal prison. Sites was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release following his incarceration.

• Mark Woodland, 53, was sentenced in June, 2023, to 51 months in federal prison, to be served after his earliest possible parole date for his current sentence. Woodland was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his incarceration.

• Lucas Johnson, 35, was sentenced in May, 2021, to 48 months in federal prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.

• Michael McNabb, 40, was sentenced in August, 2020, to 28 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.