The 211 Crew, also known as the Aryan Empire, Aryan Alliance or Brotherhood of Aryan Alliance is an American

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

prison gang, active both in and out of prison, that was formed in 1995 at Colorado's Denver County Jail. It was linked to several high-profile murders and criminal investigations. Those included the assassination of

Colorado Department of Corrections The Colorado Department of Corrections is the principal department of the Colorado state government that operates the state prisons. It has its headquarters in the Springs Office Park in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, near Colorad ...

head

Tom Clements Thomas Albert Clements (born June 18, 1953) is an American former professional football quarterback and coach. He served as an assistant coach for the Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saint ...

. Due to a threatening letter sent by a Texas Aryan Brotherhood member, it was suspected to be linked to similar assassinations of Texas district attorney Mike McLelland, and his assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse, but a former Justice of the Peace was eventually indicted for those murders.

Racism and ideology

When founded, the gang embraced symbols traditionally associated with Irish,

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

and

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

culture, some members have tattoos of

shamrock A shamrock is a type of clover, used as a symbol of Ireland. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of the Irish word and simply means "young clover". At most times'', Shamrock'' refers to either the species ...

s, Viking horns,

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s and/or other

sigils. Members refer to each other as "Mugs". There is no prohibition on members sleeping with other races. Many 211 Crew members have interracial children. Many have classified 211 Crew as a

prison gang. However, 211 Crew members, including its founders, have been documented with ties to black inmates. Israel Davis, father of Benjamin Davis, has stated that his son is not a racist and has two black siblings. However, 211 Crew members have also been linked to racially motivated murders of African Americans, making the gang's official stance on race unclear.

Formation

The gang was formed in 1995 after founding member Benjamin Davis was beaten and nearly killed in a racially motivated attack by a black inmate. Davis was jumped and beaten with a sock stuffed full of soap bars, resulting in a badly broken jaw. Davis decided to form a gang in order to protect himself, and other white inmates, from the black and Latino gangs. 211 Crew began as a deception to fool black and Latino gangs into thinking that a white gang was present to protect white inmates. As the rumor grew within the institution, men soon started asking about membership and 211 Crew became a prison gang. As members got released they started recruiting on the street level. According to 2-11s own lore the gang was named because Benjamin Davis and his co-defendants were all charged with a string of robberies. Davis was a former member of the Bloods gang and formed a minority style gang with his co-defendants. Originally it was called 2-11 Irish Crew but as they recruited people without Irish heritage it just became 2-11 Crew. Eventually 2-11 merged with the Colorado prison gangs Aryan Syndicate and ANP (American Nazi Party but no relation to the group founded by Rockwell). The new group was called Aryan Empire. Eventually the gang just went back to being called 2-11. Benjamin Davis was transferred to the Wyoming prison system where he soon thereafter killed himself.

Notable incidents

In 2013, 211 Crew member Evan Spencer Ebel murdered a local pizza delivery man in order to use his work clothes and paraphernalia as a disguise. Ebel then drove to the home of

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and called at the door, under the ruse of delivering a pizza. When Clements answered, Ebel shot him several times. After murdering Clements on the steps of his own home, Ebel immediately fled. Authorities caught up to him on a Texas highway, possibly on his way to Mexico. Ebel refused to surrender and engaged in a protracted high-speed car chase with pursuing law enforcement officers. The pursuit came to an end after Ebel crashed into a gravel truck. Following the accident, Ebel began a gunfight with police, being shot multiple times in the process. Ebel was taken to the hospital, but never regained consciousness and was removed from life support the following day.

References

{{Organized crime groups in the Americas , state=collapsed Organizations established in 1995 1995 establishments in Colorado White-supremacist organized crime groups in the United States Prison gangs in the United States Gangs in Colorado Gangs in Texas European American culture in Colorado